Favors of Shadow
by Banana Smoothie
Summary: I was feeling pretty confident. Which, for a demigod, is always a clue that something somewhat bad was soon to occur. Because, well, let’s face it. We just have really, really bad luck. What else is new? NicoxOC OCxOC
1. Peace Offering

I can speak from experience. There are no nicer people than the people who serve your food. Waiters, Hostesses, you name it. No matter what happens, no matter how many guys hit on you, or how many drunk guys invade your personal bubble, or how many girls "accidentally" spill their drinks on you, all you can do is keep smiling and move on. And when you see them on the street, you have to be as nice as possible, or else you lose a customer. And anyone will tell you that that's a big no-no.

Technically, I wasn't even allowed to work there. I was just turning fifteen about two months after they first hired me. You aren't supposed to work there until you are 16 at the least. But the manager, Mason, knows my brother. So he cut me some slack.

However, right about then, I was really upset. That was about the time when the war with the Titans was finished. So many people died. I never knew any of them, or else I just didn't realize it, but I felt horrible. And believe me, you wouldn't have been either, if you were me. But you aren't. I would count my blessings if I were you. It's right up there with have air to breathe. Thank goodness I have air to breath, thank goodness there is food on the table, thank goodness for delivering me from illness and whatnot. Oh! And thank goodness I'm not Ella Grace! After all, who in the world would ever want to be that miserable mess of a human being? Well, _half_ of a human being.

Because, I'm not even entirely human. I just happen to be the daughter of a Goddess. A very powerful Goddess. A very powerful, _very absent_ Goddess. Because I haven't actually ever met my mother, the very woman who carried me in her womb for however long and then sent me back to my father in a crib made of shining black obsidian rock with a little baby mobile made out of starlight. I wish I could have seen my fathers face. I am absolutely certain that it would have been a major Kodak moment.

My dad is a professor at the local collage. He teaches English, and he has gotten all sorts of awards, gone to all sorts of schools and given lectures to all sorts of people. On top of that, he's pretty much the best guy in existence. Ever. In the history of the earth, I'm absolutely certain dad is at the top of the list. Or at least in the top five, which is still immensely impressive given however many billions of people there are on the earth at this very moment.

Plus, he can cook.

"Hey, Grace?"

Lisa jerked me back into reality. "Yes?" I answered a moment later, shaking my head.

Lisa frowned. "You were looking a little upset. Are you sure you're okay?" Lisa was sort of like the mom of the place, only with two big differences. One, she was only two years older than me, 17, and two, she would slap your face so hard your head turned all the way around without a second thought if she got it into her head. I don't know any decent mom who would do that. Just the thought made me shiver.

I grinned, like I usually do. "Of course! I just got hardly any sleep last night. My brain is working quite right. Sorry to worry you."

She smacked the back of my head. "Darn right, you're sorry!" Lisa sighed heavily. She pointed to the table in the corner. "Go, do whatever you do. Work your little butt off until your brain starts to work properly again."

I took my pad and pencil and rushed over. I could _not_ afford to lose this job. I had to repay my dad for the last time I nearly destroyed the house. And when I say nearly, I mean _nearly. _Like, if-it-had-lasted-one-more-moment-my-house-would-do-a-great-imitation-of-a-pancake kind of _nearly._ And that?That's pretty hard core. Just another thing that makes me sad: monsters. Real one. Big scary one with horns and green fur that breath fire and slippery reptilian ones that like to sneak up on you right after you got a D on your math test. There are even some that can live around you, that look normal until they decide they want to smash you into liquid and drink you like a smoothie. Those ones suck.

"Hello. I'll be your waiter tonight! May I take your order?"

"Ella?"

My jaw dropped just the tiniest bit. "K-Karson. Hi..." I bite my lip a little, but in the end I just kept smiling, like I always do.

Ah, Karson. My eternal rival. Kind of. See, I don't think she likes me very much, because she is always trying to out-do me at...whatever. I'd rather just let it go. So, it's just a continual battle that I just really don't care about. At all. I don't find things like that all that important to be honest. She can push me and fight with me and threaten to stuff me into my locker (as if she could). But as long as she doesn't come at me breathing fire or carrying a big sword or something equally upsetting, Karson didn't bother me all that much. And that fact that she didn't bother me bothered _her_.

Karson looks like my exact opposite. Like a princess, actually. I will be the first to admit it. She has golden hair like honey that is just wavy enough, big brown eyes, a light tan, and is small, curvy, and delicate. I'm tall and thin and...flat. With dark black wavy hair and eyes the same color, and pale skin that is unblemished but glows in the dark. Have any of you seen our family pictures? I'm luminescent. It's horrible. I'm a ghost, only...not dead.

"Hello."

I started out of my thoughts again. I hadn't seen the people sitting across from her. There was a girl with bright red hair named Alice who I recognized from school, a football player name Lucas, and a third boy, the one who had spoken, who I didn't recognize at all. He was smiling, with light brown hair and bright blue eyes. My first impression was that he would be a fun person to talk to. But if he was with Karson he would hate me as soon as I left the premises anyway, so I didn't bother.

"May I take your order?" I asked again, not responding. Which is rude, of course, but I was in a very uncomfortable position. And uncomfortable positions make me, well, uncomfortable.

Karson rolled her eyes as her phone beeped obnoxiously loud, alerting her of a text. Glancing at the screen, I saw that it was one of five unread messages. "My mom. I have to go." I noticed how she quickly turned the phone off as she was leaving.

I stepped aside so that she could have a clear path to the door. She bumped into my shoulder anyway, trying to shove something into her purse. She paused. Then she stopped and turned her milky brown eyes on me for a moment, like it was the first time she ever really looked at me. I smiled at her, because that's just what I do.

"Yes?" I asked. And then I understood. I laughed a little on the inside.

"Nothing." Karson didn't look back as she walked out the door. I watched for a moment as I saw her scramble across the parking lot and hop into a large red van.

"May I take your order?" I asked again, smiling slyly. _And so it begins._

_*****_

"Ellie."

Nathan, my brother, was sitting on the couch downstairs reading. He is a senior in high school. He knows _everyone_. Seriously. Sometimes, it's annoying. He's like me, in a way. He doesn't confine himself to just one social group. He has friends in every little nook and cranny there is. One night, he is hanging out with guys like Lucas, and the next he is going to the bookstore with guys like Peter Louis, the school wide nerd.

"I can't take you to work tomorrow. I'm taking Alan to the art museum."

Alan is my adopted little brother. Avalee, his sister, and him are both six. Avalee can't seem to sit still at all and is just like a typical six year old until you ask her a question, while Alan looks at you and you can immediately realize that he knows way more than he should. And he does. I ask both of them for help on my math homework.

I heard the doorbell ring. I sighed a little, knowing what was coming.

"It's your turn!" Lucas shouted up the steps, because I was all the way upstairs, nowhere near the door, while Nathan sat on his fat butt no more than one room away from it. But I didnt bother arguing. _Seniority, _he would say.

I muttered something incoherent about lazy brothers and boiling something in oil and, not feeling like walking downstairs in case it was someone selling real estate or something equally unnecessary, opened my bedroom window and stuck my little head out.

Wind blew in my face, making long black tendrils of hair obstruct my vision. But I didn't have to be able to see clearly to know who it was. I saw a little dot of gold waiting in front of my house, accented by the surrounding white of winter snow and a little candy cane sticking up out of our yard.

"Karson?" I asked, for the second time that day. I had known her practically since birth, and never, not once, had I ever seen her on my doorstep. That just didn't happen.

She looked up at me. "What are you doing up there?"

"What are you doing _down there?"_

"What do you think I'm doing?" she asked, raising one golden eyebrow at me. "I need to talk to you. Let me in."

I smiled a little, leaning up against the windowsill, propping my head up on the palm of my hand. "Did you bring me a peace offering?" I asked impishly.

She smiled a little too, almost the exact same one as me, and held up a pan covered in aluminum foil. "You know me best," she answered.

I laughed out loud. The funny thing was, I probably did. Rivals were like that. The thought that she knew me the best as well was a little unnerving.

"Close that window! It's cold outside!" shouted Nathan.

"Get a blanket!" I responded, but clunked down the window quickly and rushed downstairs to open the door. Karson looked at me, irritated. I led her into the living room, motioning for my brother to leave.

"Did she bring a peace offering?" he wondered aloud.

I handed him the pan. "Cookies, right?" I asked Karson. "Chocolate chip?"

She nodded grudgingly. My brother shrugged, shook his curly black hair, and muttered something about crazy connections as he left the room.

I smiled, hitting his head lightly, and stuffed a cookie into his mouth. "Enjoy."

"So..." started Karson.

"You wanted to talk to me?" I prompted, trying my best not to smile. I didn't want to make her any more uncomfortable. Eventually I gave in.

"Yeah. I did. I noticed something today, at the food place."

I made my face look confused. "Oh? It wouldn't happen to be my magnificent waitress skills, would it?"

"...no."

"Oh, right. You left after practically running me over." I said smiling.

"Sorry," she said, rubbing her forehead like she had a headache.

"Oh, and Lucas was disappointed. I think he wanted your number."

"That's good to know," Karson said slowly, uncomfortable. "I talked to David afterward. He seemed quite taken to you."

"Is that so?" I let it drop. She was already fidgeting.

"Um...I was wondering if you had ever been to camp?" she asked innocently, which would have made any one suspicious.

"What kind of camp?" I was enjoying myself.

"You know, for...special people."

"Are you implying something?"

"No..."

"Then, no. I don't think I've ever been to a mental institution."

Karson scowled. "That's not what I meant."

"That's what you said."

"Is not."

"Is too."

Karson rolled her eyes, and I smiled good-naturedly. "Never mind," she said, getting up to leave.

I cocked my head to the side and sighed a little. My fun was over. "If that's your round-about way of asking me if I know about my mother and her side of the family, then the answer is yes." I paused. "But, no. I've never been to Camp Half-blood."

She looked at me. "Really?" she inquired. "You must draw monsters in from every pace in the entire country. I knew who you were from just that one touch. I'm surprised you haven't been eaten yet."

"Me too, believe me."

"Why didn't I notice it before?"

"You, my little child of Apollo, were rather heated whenever you bothered to touch me. It's no surprise you never noticed, actually."

She looked at me funny, like I had told her I ate my toenails.

I shrugged. "_You_ were heated. I never really bothered to get angry. I've known since you pushed me into the mud in the second grade."

Karson blushed a little, but she looked more angry than embarrassed. "Are you _trying_ to make me mad?"

"Kind of. I find it immensely satisfying."

"Oh, really. You enjoy making me want to slap your little face?"

I grinned. "Of course! I detest you."

Nathan sighed from the doorway, chocolate chip cookie in hand. "I sense the beginnings of a beautiful friendship."


	2. No Fun at All

**a.n. You all are pathetic. :) Just so you know. Haha, just kidding. I am a little disappointed though. I only got one review! We must fix this! This is my mission! And now I feel bad for calling you all pathetic...**

**Oh and thank you Callie (a.k.a. Nico's Future Wife) for being my Beta, and being awesome in general. Haha, see? I told you I would put that!**

"Karson!"

The small, curvy blond girl turned around and hissed. "_What?_"

"Oh, don't be like that buddy!" I shouted in reply, hurrying to catch up to her. I flung my arm around her shoulder.

"I. Am. Not. Your. _Buddy_," she hissed in utter disdain.

I grinned. I couldn't help myself. Karson just might be the most entertaining person to annoy I have ever met in my entire decade and a half of life. And I have met quite a few very interesting people. Some of them weren't technically even "people". I believe that Karson should have been very proud of herself.

"Stop smiling, it's creepy," Karson said, scowling, like always.

"But I love smiling. I smile almost as much as you scowl. What if someone walked up to you and told you that you had to stop scowling because it was depressing? My guess is that you would not be very happy with them." And then I started skipping, just to annoy her.

Just a heads up, I'm not like that with most people. Even my brother has to admit that I can be devastatingly charming when I want to be. I can convince random people in Wal-Mart to give me a twenty dollar bill. I did that all the time when I was really young, just going up to people and asking if they had any spare money so that I could buy a ball or something. One guy gave me a fifty. Nowadays, I only do that when I have to, and I pay them back when I can. But I could if I tried. However, Karson is a special case. That is the kind of deep, spiritual connection that we share.

"Ella, pull our pants up. I don't want to know what color your underwear is."

"Oopsie!"

"It's blue, by the way."

"Blue with green polka dots! I got them from Target!"

We were walking home from school. Both of us actually live relatively close to the school, so the way home is the same for the both of us for most of the way. It was still snowing, all white and glittery around us. It was so beautiful. Icicles hung from the barren branches of tree like diamonds. Houses were covered head to toe in blinking, rainbow colored lights. A wire Santa Clause in his sleigh rested on many peoples roofs, surrounded by fake reindeer, the one in the front with a big blinking red nose that made it look comically like a clown.

"Oh my gods, Ella, put on a jacket or something! You must be friggin' freezing!" Karson shouted, shivering. In my opinion, she looked like a giant green marshmallow. Her mother was a fantastic person, but she had this insane obsession. If you got one thing, you had to have a matching _everything_ to go with it. So when they bought the green jacket, her mother got a matching green scarf, green snowboots, green gloves, a green hat, and green earmuffs. Not only that, but she made sure that her darling little daughter wore it all. Not that Karson minded. She was born in Florida until a large monster bit a huge chunk out of her house when she was still little. Even now, so many years after, and she still hated anything chilly.

I shrugged. I was just wearing jeans and a sweater. Oh, and cute boots with little blue whales on them. Usually, I would have still been wearing flip flops. However, Nathan melted my favorite pair in a monster attack two weeks before, and I was in mourning. I was convinced that I would never wear another pair as long as I lived. Kind of like Lent. Only I'm not Catholic. Actually, it was a _lot _like Lent. I would last for a month, maybe. And then I would revert back to my former frenzy of lip flops and sandals. "Friggin'? What kind of word is that?"

Karson adjusted her green scarf, but I could till see her scowling in the dark recesses of her many pounds of clothing.

"Friggin'..." I repeated in false wonder. "I wonder if that's in the dictionary."

"Shut up, Grace."

I grinned. Then I heard the sound of a car rolling slowly down the ice covered road. I turned and saw a large red pick up truck, one of those huge ones with the large trunk in the back that only fit two people in the actual car part of the thing.

"Hey!"

A little brown mop of hair stuck out of the window on the passenger's side. I recognized the boy from the restaurant who was with Karson about a week ago. Now that I really looked at him, I concurred with my earlier thought. He was very cute. He had icy blue eyes that were startlingly pale, a square jaw, and his brown hair had a little tint of red in it.

"David?" Karson asked. She sounded familiar with him, like they were friends, but not like she knew him very well.

"Karson, right? And...?" he looked straight at me. I smiled politely.

"Oh, right," she said, like she had just remembered I was there. "This is Ella Grace. She is a..." she stopped, like she was trying to figure out an appropriate word to explain our relationship.

"We've known each other a long time," I finished for her, which was true. Karson nodded in agreement.

"And I'm David Jane," the boy said after a short pause, in which he realized that Karson would not be the one to introduce him. Bless her soul, but she was never very good with meeting new people.* "This is my brother, Adam." He thrust his thumb in the direction of the guy sitting in the drivers seat. They both had the same face, but their coloring was different. Adam had a deep tan, with dirty blond hair and light blue eyes, but not a light as his brothers. He belonged in a surfing magazine, not her in this snowy place.

"Do you all need a ride?" David asked politely, still smiling. It wasn't really a big smile. But a sly one that made you wonder what he was up to. Like a secret smile.

Karson, shuffling her feet back and forth in an entertaining attempt to warm her self, nodded gladly.

"Hop in."

Now now, I'm sure I know what my father would have said. You are never, _ever _supposed to get into a car with a stranger. But, you see, Karson and I are trained warriors who have defeated many a monster and are still living to tell the tale. If this guy turned out to be a freaky kidnapper, then I was absolutely positive I could take him. Celestial bronze, what all of the traditional demigods weapons were made of (I heard a rumor about a sword of Stygian iron or something lie that), doesn't actually hurt mortals. It can't. Because, no offense, but they really aren't all that important. But if you can only swing a sword or shoot an arrow, you're dead. Like road-kill. Like canned tuna. So I could handle people using non-divine means.

Unless you have godly parentage, I would agree with you mortal parents and advise you against jumping into a car in our situation. That would be stupid.

The chilly air was like blades themselves, whipping into your face, making your eyes sting. My black hair was flinging just about everywhere, but I didn't mind. I looked at the trees as they darted by, trying to hold them in my vision until I couldn't anymore and then moving on to the next one. "Gods, I love winter."

Karson gave me a warning look and nodded toward the Jane's in the car. I got her point. I rolled my eyes and nodded.

"Actually, Ella, I need to talk..."

"Are you breaking up with me?"

"What?!"

I busted out laughing, composed my self, and shook my head. "Never mind. Continue."

"About this David guy..." she hesitated.

My jaw dropped. "You think he's a demigod?" I asked, my voice going high pitched and squeaky.

"Shut up!" Karson shrieked and jumped across the trunk of the car, clasping her hand over my mouth. She looked back at the window that separated us from David and Adam. Adam dutifully had his eyes on the road, but David was giving us a strange look over his shoulder.

I smacked her hand away from my mouth. "Shut up isn't a very nice thing to say, you know."

"Then shut your pie hole!"

"I don't like pie..."

She scowled.

I rolled my eyes. "Gods, Karson. You're in my space. You know that metaphorical personal bubble? Yeah, well, you popped it." I forcibly pushed her off of my and dust the snow that she had shaken onto me from my clothes, watching the little snowflakes melt little wet spots onto the fabric. "Why?"

"Why what? Why'd I pop your bubble? Because you were shouting about being a half-blood. They might have heard you."

I blew out my cheeks like a tuba player and then let all of he air out. "First of all, you are being paranoid. They wouldn't have heard anything at all if you hadn't been making so much noise by attacking me," I pointed out. "And secondly, that's not what I meant. I meant, why do you think he is...one of us?"

"He has all of the usual traits. He gets into fights a lot. He has ADHD and dyslexia. He doesn't know who his mother is, and he has been alone with his father and brother ever since his birth. I was talking to Adam, and he said that they are only half-brothers." She looked back at his head. "It's almost a sure thing."

"But I remember him. I've seen him at school sometimes. He's been here a while. Half-bloods tend to move around a lot."

Karson shook her head. "You and I haven't. I've only moved once, from Florida to here, and you've been here since your birth."

I licked my lips, cocking my head to the side, thinking. "That's because, while I'm pretty strong, and my aura is large, I'm the daughter of a minor goddess, so monsters, while generally large and bothersome, leave me alone." I thought back a few months ago when that monster almost killed my house. "Generally."

Karson nodded. "I had to learn to tone mine down pretty well, at camp."

"Do you think he knows?" I asked. I twirled a piece of hair around my index finger.

Karson shook her head.

"I agree. He would have been able to tell that we were what we are if he knew."

Karson raised an eyebrow. "Or maybe, just maybe, he is like you. You knew what I was even before I did, and you never said one thing!"

"That, my dear, is because I thought it would be helpful for you to figure it out all on your own," I answered absently with a casual wave of my hand. "If you didn't know who _you_ were, than it was certainly no use to know who _I_ am."

Karson narrowed her eyes.

"What?" I asked, smiling.

"I _still_ don't know who you are, now that I think about. I don't know who your mother is."

"Of course not!" I replied, euphoric. "This is a game! What fun is a game when you already know the ending?" I shook my head sympathetically. "No fun. No fun at all."


	3. Operation: Save Major and Fellow Hostage

**a.n. Soooooo...I got three reviews for the last chapter. Let's try for some more! I have problems with motivation. ;) Hahahahahaahahahaha. Anyway, latter on in the story I might do one or two chapters done in the point of view of Karson or David, possibly. Just an idea. Let me know what you think. **

**Oh, and Callie, because you crushed my hopes and dreams, you aren't going to read this before it's out. O', sweet revenge. :)**

"Ella, tell me what I just said please."

I told him the last little snippet of the lecture he had been giving absently and then went back to what I had been doing.

"What are you doing?" Mr. Kent demanded from right over my shoulder suddenly. I almost jumped to the moon. Mr. Kent has one of those super scary, army type voices, so that he yells even when he is just talking to you. My eardrum just about shattered. He snatched the paper I had been working on out of my hands.

"I was doodling."

"What is this?" He pointed to the picture,

"An octopus..."

He crumpled up my octopus. Simon! "You need to pay attention."

"I am paying attention. I just told you the last thing you were talking about," I answered smiling just the tiniest bit.

"You're supposed to be taking notes, not doodling an octopus."

"First of all, his name was Simon, and you hurt his feelings. Secondly..." I handed him my notebook that I had been taking notes on. A full page and a half were taken up with my rather untidy scrawl. But the information was all there. I have the ability to pay attention to many things at once. I can doodle and take notes and listen to a lecture all at once. I can read while walking in a crowded hallway (which is no small feet with the dyslexia and all). I can even walk and chew bubble gum at the same time! Don't take that for granted, people. I've known some very...colorful people with the inability to do such a thing.

Now, most teachers would be incredibly insulted if their student scolded them for hurting their imaginary Simon the Octopus' feelings and then shoved their work into their faces. This is where Mr. Kent's totally awesome people skills come into play. He acts like a little kid himself. This has granted him favorite teacher status in the hearts of many, yours truly included.

"Well..." he looked at his lesson plans. "You don't have anything about this on there!" He pointed to **(So...I'm not in high school...and thus don't know what the heck they teach to sophomores, so lets just say it was something that 15 years old study. Yeah, lets go with that. [insert high school topic here])**

I peeked at the book. "You didn't say anything about that."

"Yes, I did."

"No, you didn't."

"Yes, Grace. Yes I did, didn't I?" He asked the person at my table next to me. His name was John, I think. Something with a J. Mr. Kent seemed incredibly disheartened when J____ shook his head _no_. "Oh...well, continue on your work, Phillip."

"Phillip doesn't start with a _J..._" I muttered. I turned over a new page for my notes, waited until Mr. Kent had left the general area, and started doodling again.

"What are you doing?" asked David. We had recently realized that we had about five classes together, but sat on opposite sides of the room for each one until Mr. Kent got exasperated at David's neighbor and moved him over to the seat in front of me. Considering that I didn't really know anyone other that Karson around me, and she was only really good for companionable silence since she yelled when I tried to annoy her, David's company was welcome.

"What do you think I'm doing?" I asked. "Simon must be avenged!" I showed him the picture. Under the label _Simon II _there was a smiling, cartoon-ish octopus and an entire army of octopi with a banner that said "Get Kent!" in squiggly letters.

"I...can't read that."

"Oh! Right. Dyslexia and all that." I flapped my hand at him. "I momentarily forgot." I often forgot about my own disability, because the case that I had was incredibly mild compared to others.

About ten minutes later, I saw someone move over to me from the top of my field of vision. David had scooted (is that a word?) over some that he was facing me. "Who are you going to pick for your partner?"

"Partner? For what?"

"For the project."

"_What _project?"

"The one he just announced that we needed to pick partner's for. Weren't you listening?"

"No..."

"What were you doing?"

"I was working on my octopus army!" I paused. "Um...I guess..." I looked around the room. "Well, I could always work with Phillip. Right buddy?" I said with a grin, startling my neighbor.

"I didn't know you knew my name..." he answered after a moment.

"Sorry, I didn't. But we can be buddies." I smiled. He went a little red in the face. I couldn't tell if he was blushing or angry. I'm bad at stuff like that. "Anyway, who will you be with?"

David looked around the room too. "Um...I have no idea. I don't have many friends in this class."

I added another few octopi to my defense force. I didn't realize that someone was calling my name until Phillip shouted in my ear. "Grace!"

"Wha...?!" I looked at him. He pointed at Karson, who waved at me innocently, but she had a smug look on her face, like my reaction amused her.

"Partner?" she inquired, her eyebrow raised. I raised mine in a silent question. "We need a third." She "discretely" looked in David's direction.

"David!" I shouted suddenly. "Since neither of us has a partner, why don't we team up with Karson for this one?" I glanced a Phillip. "Sorry."

"It's quite alright..." he said, uncomfortable.

I laughed a little bit, to ease the tension.

"Sure," David said. "You know, for some reason, I pictured you guys to fight a lot more."

"What do you mean?"

"Well," he paused, like he was thinking over what he was going to say. "Everyone who knows either one of you knows your rivals and junk, so I just figured."

"We have come to a temporary truce," Karson said, twirling her pencil. "for personal reasons."

"Well, that's good," I said, sneaking a chip out of my lunch bag and popping it in my mouth. "Quite honestly, I don't even remember why we are rivals in the first place."

******

"What's wrong with you, Grace?"

"At least I don't look like an overgrown green mushroom, Maverick!"

David was shaking his head, giving me the what-did-I-get-myself-into face. Karson, once again bundled up in her mound of green winter clothing, was harassing me about my preference to avoid a coat. He was walking home with us, coming to my house along with Karson so that we could work on the history project, since my dad wouldn't mind If I randomly brought people over, even though David was a complete stranger. See, when you're a powerful demi-god, there's all sorts of things you can get away with. Plus Nathan and Alan were home, and that is all that supervision you need, even if Alan is a little boy.

I looked at him for back-up. He threw up his hands. "Don't look at me like that! I agree with Karson. It's freezing." He wasn't quite as covered as she was, but her still a jacket and gloves.

"You all are making me feel under-dressed."

That's about the time that we heard a scream. "Dang flabbit!" little Benny Major shouted running past us and right into David, who is very solid and somehow managed to not fall over. "Oops, there are usually only two of you."

Karson looked at him. "What happened?" she asked, thrusting her thumb at the direction he had been running from.

"Don't!" he screamed at me. I had been inching away to get a better look. "Some men came to daddy's store."

David nodded. We all knew that Christopher Major ran the only nice restaurant in town, which was pretty small. Everyone knew Mr. Christopher. "Two of them got's sharp knives, but the back room with all of the cooking stuff was locked." He looked up at us. "Daddy's still in there."

I blew out my cheeks. "Darnnit."

"Can't we just wait until the police come?" Karson asked.  
"This is their job, you know."

"No! It's doughnut hour! The police force I pretty lax right about now."

She gave me a look. "We have to get home to start on the project."

"It'll be quick!"

"Sure, the actually hard part will be. But then you have police interrogations and news reporters..."

"It'll be quick!" I insisted. "Besides, it's your turn," I said to her.

"I'm wearing a skirt! I had to for that soccer award thing."

"The last time we did something I was in a skirt."

"You were helping a little kid who was scared of heights off of the slide!"

"What's the difference?"

"What's the _same?"_

"Fine! I have to do all of the hard stuff."

"Wait!" shouted David. He had the funniest look on his face. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, we're going to save the day, of course!"

He looked at me like I was crazy. "What are you saying? You aren't a superhero!"

I got this really serious look on my face. "Actually, I've been meaning to talk to you about that, but it never seemed like a good time. The thing is..." I took a deep breath. "I'm from Krypton."

David looked at me blankly.

"Karson found out two weeks ago. Now she is my sidekick. We're working on theme music. It should be ready any day now. What we really need is a name and some spandex and tights."

"How can you joke at a time like this?" he scolded.

I ignored him. "Hey, Karson. If only two if them he knives and I get one, will take the second?"

"I'm wearing a _skirt!"_

"All you have to do is hold it! Just so they don't get it!"

Karson sighed. "Ugh, fine. This is getting boring anyway."

"_Operation: Save the Major and Fellow Hostages_ is go!" I said. Then I turned the corner and ran in to the restaurant before David could stop me.

That part was much harder than expected, since the police hadn't gotten there yet, there was a bunch of stupid people crowding around the entrance. I think I stepped on a few people's feet.

I opened the door quietly. Most of the robbers probably thought that no one would be crazy enough to come in, so there was only one guy in the section that I entered into. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on how you look at it) he was one of the ones that were armed, so I snuck up and much as possible and quickly took the knife before he could react.

Then I hit him over the head with a metal pipe I had secured upon entering.

"Elodie Natalia Grace, what do you think you're doing?" hissed Miss Jenna. There were only a few people, since it was the middle of the day, which was good.

"Well, I'm getting you out of here before the police come." Helped her up and pointed the main door. "Go ahead."

"You are crazy."

"Runs in the family." The very phrase made me smile. That was true in so many ways. On my mother's side, of course. "Where are the others?"

"I must insist that you leave this instant!"

I flapped my hand. "But that's boring. Fine, I'll just find them myself." I heard Karson enter and says something, probably apologizing, to Miss Jenna before I leapt away.

"Hellooooooo?" I called mockingly. I was in a really good mood for some reason.

"A little girl? Seriously?" said someone behind me. I moved a little to the left as a knife came whizzing past my head.

"That was stupid," I commented as Karson pulled the knife from the wall. I tossed her the one I held as well. "I don't think I need it."

She rolled her eyes. "Really Ella? Really?" she said sarcastically, but she didn't say anything else.

I had to agree. I was, if anything, a very cocky fighter. I knew that. However, she had never seen me in action. So she had no idea. I had a reason to be cocky. And I had eleven years of training via Nathan and multiple monsters to back it up. This guy was no where near as scary as some of them, nor as big, and definitely not as clever. Lets just say that I am absolutely sure none of them have ever been the sharpest crayon in the box. Ever.

They were down in, like, ten minutes.

"Grace!"

"What's with everyone calling me my last name? It's my _last_ name. Which means it comes _last_."

"Grace..."

"Fine..."

Karson and I walked out the front door, leaving a room of beat up bad guys for the police to handle. "O' doughnut hour, how we love thee," David muttered, pushing through the crowd. He patted Karsons head, and then mine. He poked my arm, like he was looking for wounds. I just kind of stood their watching him and smiling, because the serious look on his face was actually sort of funny.

"Yo, Jane, your face is bringing me down!" I scolded.

"Don't say 'yo'," commented Karson, who jerked her skirt away from a police man who was checking us to make sure we weren't going to break out into a flurry of mass murder or something. Yeah, because that would happen.

"My name is David," he added.

"I know."

"Just checking. You called me Jane. I wasn't sure if you forgot my name like poor Phillip. He has been sitting next to you all year."

"Well, it's not like we ever talk. I'm not going to invite him over for tea and crumpets anytime soon," I said, wagging my arm in front of his face to make it clear I was unharmed. "Besides, she always calls me Grace." I jerked my thumb toward Karson.

Before David could make any corrections or completely ignore me, another policeman came over to us.

Things don't happen around town very often. Like I said, we live in a pretty small area. There isn't really much to harm, so when they get something like a hostage and a major robbery, they get all flashy. But most of the time, people beat them to the punch line. Now was a great example.

Let's just say that Mr. Montgomery, or Mr. Evan, the policeman, and I were on good terms.

"Hello, Mr. Evan!"

"Hey Miss Grace," he said with a smile. I raised an eyebrow at David, and then let him continue. "I'm going to have to ask you some questions."

"Again?" shouted Karson in frustration, but she quickly shut her mouth when everything got quiet. Have you ever just burst out loudly right when everyone seems to stop talking? It was like that.

"But we have to go do our project! Mr. Kent is making me do this thing and then he killed Simon I!"

Mr. Evan looked at us questioningly.

David was getting more and more edgy while we were talking. His family generally kept away from people. They weren't social outside of school and work. Of course, they new everyone, and everyone liked them, but they were comfortable with certain people, like Mr. Evan, to talk to them like that.

It's a really good thing that I'm one of those people who have never met a stranger. I don't think that being as tense as David looks very comfortable.

"I don't think I've met you," said Mr. Evan to David. "But you look a lot like Matthew. You must be his youngest son, David." He smiled largely. "He's a great man, he is."

David couldn't help but smile and nodded despite his uneasiness. "I agree. He's the absolute best."

"And yes, Miss Maverick, again," he said to Karson. "You were involved with a robbery."

"It's Ella who beat them up! I had nothing to do with it. I'm wearing a skirt."

I gasped. "Betrayal. I'm quite disappointed in you, my dear."

Mr. Evans began to question us. Stupid stuff like "Were you familiar with [insert robbers name here] prior to today?" and "What were you doing before you arrived?" and then, when he was out of official mode "What on earth did you think you were doing?!" David just stood silently, since he really did have nothing to do with it. According to Mr. Evan, he was the only sane one. Sane. As if that's ever a good thing. Not for people like us.

We would certainly have to break Mr. David Jane of that horrid habit. _Sane..._gross.

**Ta-dah! That was a whole eight and a half pages! How's that for longer Miss Callie? Miss Short chapters! :) Hehe.**

**Now, it's time to review! Yes! My favorite part! Click...**

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	4. Dear Ella, You Aggravate Me

**a.n. Okay. I know that I told you all (at least I think I did) that I would not have any of the previous characters in this story. I changed my mind. Just for you, Miss Callie. Consider it you're reward for the candy on Friday. :)**

**Karson Maverick, daughter of Apollo.**

_Dear Ella,_

_ You aggravate me._

_ Sincerely,_

_ Karson Maverick._

Do you see that letter, up there? Story of my life. One simple sentence. What has my world come to? I'm not that simple, am I?

Yes. I am.

Dear Ella, you aggravate me.

Of course, she is also my best friend and mutual rival. So...we have a complex relationship.

I moved here when I was less that a year old from a magical place called Florida. I only recently learned that was the work of a monster eating off a big chunk of my roof in an attempt to kill me in my cradle. Monsters don't usually bother you until you're old enough to do some damage. Apparently, my damaging-making was top notch, or else this monster was really stupid.

I met Ella in pre-school. The first time I ever talked to her was in first grade. She was this happy little girl with eyes so black they were disconcerting, skin so white it glowed in the dark, and a smile so big it took up most of her face. I didn't mind her. But her eyes. They seemed too...smart. Too smart, too knowledgeable, too intelligent for someone my own age. Too experienced.

I had seen her every day at school, but whenever I saw her, I made sure that she couldn't see me, because something about her was just wrong. Or maybe something about her was right. She was right and everything else was wrong. But first grade was the first time we actually made eye contact.

I was walking outside, my blond hair pulled up into high pigtails that bounced when I walked, kicking rocks along the sidewalk to pass the time. When I looked up from my feet, I saw this huge tree, who knows how old, with it's branches twisted around each other like a net. Sitting in the strangest little nook possible was Elodie Natalia Grace. And she was just looking at me. But she wasn't smiling anymore. Her eyes were cheerful, happy even, strange when they were so dark, so her face wasn't completely strange. But those all-knowing eyes were too alert as they looked at me. She was looking _into_ me, not just at me. And they seemed to be telling me something, like they flicked on the light switch to let me know something wasn't quite right.

That was my first clue that I was much more than I thought I was.

In fourth grade, they offered to allow me to skip fifth grade and go straight on to middle school for some sort of academic program, to which I happily agreed. I finally thought I would be rid of her. Then I found out that, out of the entire school, Ella was included in the five other students to skip. Poor little Karson. Yes, I referred to myself in the third person.

In the sixth grade, the dreams started. Lovely dreams. Frightening dreams. Exciting dreams. I loved dreaming, I loved it all. But, they were too real. Too real to be _just _dreams. Too real to not be real.

I saw twelve all-powerful beings that stood as tall as buildings, with a feeling that crackled with greatness and supremacy. So I decided to do some research. What I found freaked me out way more than the dreams. That's when I told my mom.

That summer, it was away to Camp Half-blood.

I was in the Hermes cabin for three weeks. I met the future hero, Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon. I'm not going to lie; I had a crush on him for that summer. He was...undoubtedly good-looking. But then I met Annabeth, and being a daughter of Apollo, it was easy enough to see how things were going to go.

I heard of, but never met, the son of Hades. He was my age, but one grade below me. Or he would be, if he actually went to school.

In the eighth grade, I was "drafted" off to fight in a war. Actually, I had to run away from home so that I could be involved. Mom was being overly protective. I understand. Who would want their daughter to fight in a war? I didn't even want to fight in it. But a girl only has so many options. Actually, I had a few. But very few of them were pleasant to consider.

**Options:**

**A:** I don't fight, we lose. Forced to work with Kronos. Possibly (probably) be killed by a pack of bloodthirsty demons from the deepest cranny of Tartarus. Maybe made into _Karson al a mode_. Yum.

**B:** I don't fight, we win. Never able to show my ashamed little face again. Turn into a freaky old lady that smells like cat litter and bakes crappy cookies for neighbors, which they accept graciously and then promptly burry in the backyard. [insert frowny face]

**C:** I fight, we lose. I die.

**D:** I fight, we win. I might die. I might not die. If I do, I'm celebrated as a hero, party it up in Elysium forevermore. If I don't, I grow up, fall in love, have children, move back to Florida, and am still celebrated as a hero.

Plus, it's just the right thing to do.

I don't know about you, but Option D was looking mighty fine.

So, I ran, I fought, I didn't die. Huzzah! Congratulations for me, mighty daughter of Apollo. Still waiting for that fall-in-love part.

But the only bad part?

I fought the Titan Kronos. I faced dozens of monster. Killed some of the people that used to be my comrades with tears in my eyes. Watched an entire city fall asleep. I was under the command of one of the best heroes in the history of heroes, and I survived to tell the tale. And, when I got home, Ella Grace still somehow managed to bother me. How is that friggin' possible? It isn't!

I told her this.

"Well, it's a gift. Superpowers are the best, aren't they?"

That was her response.

Typical little turd.

Just because I had been fighting with her since the first grade, that doesn't mean I'm impervious to reason. So, when I found out the truth about her, that her mother was a minor goddess, I had to agree that it was in everyone's best interest if we made an [temporary] alliance.

And that's basically my life up until now.

"Hey buddy!"

Dear Ella, you aggravate me.

It was after school. School is boring, if anyone cares. That's a good thing about her. She, at least, is entertaining under all of that frustration. In fact, I could see why people liked her. She was undeniably nice.

"Jane, hurry!"

"Since when am I 'Jane'?"

"Since forever ago, silly." Ella skipped up to me, smiling ear to ear. "We need to talk," she whispered to me, her breath tickling my ear.

I glanced to her, to let her know I had heard and silently asked her a question.

Ella just shrugged and, still smiling, started skipping ahead of us. "You make me happy! Whether you know it or not. We should be happy! That's what I said from the start. I am so happy, knowing you are the one I will love for the rest of days!" she started singing suddenly.

David looked at me.

I scowled a little, but ended up giving a little snort/laugh and shrugged. "You get used to it. She randomly starts to burst into to song. She's like a walking musical."

The rest of the walk home was filled with laughter and talking about how horrible the teachers are and sprinkled with periodic eruptions of song from Ella. David left us right before I would have taken the turn to go to my own house. Instead, I ignored it and just kept walking with Grace. It had been silently decided that her house was the meeting place for all things deity-related.

"Nathan?" she shouted upon arrival. I never understood their method of communication.

Nathan popped his head out of the window of his bedroom. "You called?"

"Let us in!"

"What, did you lose your key? Again?"

"I always lose my key."

"You always lose _everything," _he answered. It was hard to tell since he was so high, but I saw a glint of white and thought he might have been smiling. "Yo, Maverick! Did you bring me cookies again?"

I looked at him. "Oven's busted."

"Can you make them here?"

"You're a pig," laughed Ella. "Now let me in!"

Nathan reentered his house and walked down the stairs to open the door a moment later.

Nathan Grace was a very attractive boy; I'm not ashamed to admit it. He was very tall, like his sister, with the same black hair, which was somewhat curlier than Ella's, and the same dark eyes that looked _into_ you opposed to at you. He was strong with muscles like a basketball player, and a smile that was big and inviting but not perfect.

He motioned us to come in.

I walked in first. Behind me, I heard Nathan whisper in Ella's ear. "Have you figured it out yet?"

Ella casually shook her head. "Come along, ye lady!" She grabbed my arm and started to run ahead, but Nathan stopped her.

"Homework first," he said.

Ella pouted for a moment, than shrugged and sat down on the couch.

"What did you want to talk about?" I asked.

"It'll be easier to show you. Do you have a lot of homework?"

I shook my head. "Half an hours worth, maybe more. I had study hall today."

"Good," she said, satisfied.

"Sister!" Avalee came springing out of nowhere. Oh goodie, a six year old with ADHD. She was small, with white blond hair and ice blue eyes, which was shocking next to Ella's dark coloring, but they were so much alike it was hard to imagine they weren't related at all. "Other sister!" she came over to me, holding something in her hand. "Take!" She pushed it into my hand.

It was a black stone, super smooth, like it had been in a lake and the running water had brushed away all of the rough edges. It was shockingly heavy.

"Thanks for the cookies. They were delicious!" she rubbed her tummy. Delicious was not in the vocabulary of most six year olds. It wasn't even in some people's vocabulary in my class. I wondered who their parents were.

Fifty minutes and a whole lot of math later, the two of us were standing in a clearing about fifteen minutes walking distance from Ella's backyard, surrounded by trees.

I stared around me in wonder. "If I cussed, I would be cussing right now."

Ella nodded in agreement. "Holy corncob."

I looked at her with a weird expression, and she just smiled back.

The trees around me were marred with deep cuts almost halfway through some of the trunks, clean slices that looked almost impossibly perfect. There was also something about the air that was strange, and the effect on Ella was immediate and completely obvious. She was glowing with radiance. Not just the oh-my-goodness-you're-so-friggin'-pale thing that she was usually glowing with.

"Did you do this?"

No response.

"Nathan?"

Silence.

"Alan? Avalee?" my voice was rising. Of course it couldn't be them. They were tiny!

Ella gave the smallest shake of her head. She gave me that look, the one she had given me in first grade from her nook in the tree when I still had pigtails. "No," she said solemnly, breathlessly.

I looked back at the cuts in the tree, sticking my fingers in the cracks to get a better idea of their depth. I hardly noticed that Ella had taken a sword out of nowhere.

I whirled around, surprised as I saw the glint of the celestial bronze and the flash of it as it swung.

She hit another tree, right under another mark, with pinpoint precision. She sighed.

It was deep. Surprisingly deep, since Ella seemed too small. But it wasn't as deep as the slash above it.

And Ella was a heck of a lot stronger than me with a sword. I'll stick to my bow and arrows.

She turned to me. "Whoever did this, regardless of species, they're dangerous."

I looked into her eyes. "Dangerous," I repeated, more to myself than to anyone else.

I saw Ella tense suddenly, her eyes alert again. I listened for a moment. There was something in the bushes. She looked at me. _It's a rabbit, probably, _she said silently.

I picked something out of my pocket. It was a smooth rock, the one that had been given to me by the youngest of the Grace siblings.

The thing rustled again. Taking a deep breath, I turned and chucked it at the thing with all of my strength. It made contact with a sickening and satisfying crack.

"Ow!"

"That...is most definitely not a rabbit," muttered Ella with a giggle.

Sitting in the bushes was a guy, our age, at least, maybe older. He had messy black hair, olive colored skin, and black eyes. More black eyes! What was this, Disconcerting Peoples Palace? He was wearing baggy black pant, a black t-shirt, and an aviator's jacket. At least one thing was for sure, when he started talking, he would not be happy smiley like Ella. That was made very evident by the bump on his forehead and the murderous look he was giving me.

"What was that for?" he insisted.

"Why are you in a bush?" asked Ella, with a slow look on her face. I looked at her in disbelief. "What?" she inquired. "It's a perfectly logical question. People don't just walking around wearing bushes. That's stupid. Are you stupid?" The last remark was made to him.

"Are _you _stupid? You hit me with a rock!"

"That was Karson!"

"Who is Karson?"

"Me," I said. "Who are _you_?"

He glared at me, but then he looked away at the ground and started glaring at that. "My name's Nico. Nico di Angelo."

*****

"I figured it out!" cried Ella when we walked in her backdoor, striking a pose as though there would paparazzi awaiting her arrival.

"Yeah?" asked Nathan from the recliner, holding the remote up as though he were just about to change the channel.

Alan, Avalee's twin brother, looked up from the book he had been reading. Upon further inspection, I saw it was the fourth _Harry Potter_ book. Typical. Because all little kids read books that big. But, I had to give him his props. The kid had good taste in fantasy novels.

Nico looked around the kitchen we had just entered, like he was taking it all in.

Nathan waked over to them, but stopped a few feet away. "Man," he said laughing. "You stink! What have you been doing, rolling in the compost heap since last Tuesday?"

I had to agree. I had been subconsciously breathing through my mouth all the way back. I could taste the smell on my tongue. Nico needed a bath. With bubbles. And some of my mother's extra frilly bath scent. And he still would smell. He was rank.

Nico took a deep breath and blushed. That was outrageous. He was blushing! He didn't look like he would be a blusher. How cute. I laughed a little at his discomfort. He shot me a look. I raised an eyebrow and stuck out my tongue at him.

I turned and saw Ella grinning at me, larger than usual. "What?"

"Oh nothing." Then she skipped away. "Come along, Mr. di Angelo. Let me show you to the magical land of the bathroom." She motioned for him to follow her. He reluctantly walked after her. I noticed how the hem of his pants was ripped with something that looked disturbingly like claw marks.

"You should let him borrow some of your things," Alan said quietly to his brother.

Nathan nodded and got up to go into his bedroom, which was on the first story by the staircase.

Avalee jumped up and took his spot in the big chair. Her legs didn't reach the floor, so she swung them freely back and forth with her little hands clasped in her lap. "He's cute!" she said happily.

When he came down half an hour later, I had to agree.

Nathan's closet is surprisingly devoid of black garments, so poor deprived Nico would have to make do with the dark blue t-shirt and the baggy jeans. Luckily, he was the same size as the oldest Grace sibling, so he wasn't tripping over the hem or constantly holding up his pants to keep them from falling around his ankles.

I passed him a plate of very warm chocolate chip cookies, sliding it across the kitchen table to where he was sitting. He raised an eyebrow. I shrugged. "I bake when I'm nervous."

He eyed the second plate of cookies on the counter and the batch baking in the oven. "I'm not _that _scary." He laughed a little. It was a nice laugh.

"I saw the tree, dude. You aren't exactly harmless."

Nico stared at me, grabbing a cookie. Avalee came and snatched it up out of his hand. "Cookie! Alan, Karson made cookies!" she danced around a little, her pale hair flying. She turned and looked at Nico, smiling, one of her front teeth missing. "You should have one, they are delectable." She giggled, jumped up on to the table to grab two more to accompany the third in her hand, and raced off, singing "Cookie, cookie, cookie!" joyfully.

"Well, I was going to eat that one until..." he started, before realizing what she had said. "Did that little girl say 'delectable' just now?" he asked me.

I smirked a little but didn't say anything.

"Who are you people?" Nico inquired in wonder.

"Myself not included," I assured him. "The Grace siblings are a mystery to us all. Including them selves. I doubt they even know what they're talking about half the time."

He bit into another cookie, waiting for me to continue. "Tell me about them," he said after a moment.

"Alan and Avalee are twins, and Nathan and Ella are actually brother and sister, but the twins are adopted."

"What about their parents?"

"Ava and Alan don't know their parents at all. Mr. Grace is the professor at the local university, and their mother is...away," I said vaguely, nibbling on a cookie. "What about you?"

He tensed a bit. Oh, rough territory. "My mom passed away. My dad lives practically underground." He shrugged. "Not much to tell."

I doubted that. "Any siblings?"

"I used to have a sister."

"Oh..." I licked some of a melted chocolate chip off of my thumb. "Where do you live?"

"Rhode Island."

I raised an eyebrow. No way. No freaking way. "That's pretty far away."

He didn't say anything.

"Did you get chased here by monsters?" I asked, laughing a little.

"Something like that."

Interesting. "I have a lot of family, down in Rhode Island."

"Do you?"

I nodded. "I come from a very large, very old family. My father lives in New York, though." I laughed. "Have you ever been to the 600th floor of the Empire State Building?"

Nico choked on his cookie. "There—there isn't a 600th floor, you idiot," he said coughing.

"Are you sure?" I asked innocently.

He didn't answer.

I shrugged.

Nathan walked over. "Do you have a place to stay?"

Nico looked at me for a moment longer before replying. "I guess I could find a place somewhere...A hotel or something."

The both of us laughed at him. "We don't have many hotels. No one comes here," I said.

"Besides, that would shame us!" Nathan added, suddenly striking a heroic pose. "How would that look on us as hosts? And you know how gossip is in small towns. Why, I won't be able to go to school without people saying 'you know the Grace family kicked a poor smelly boy out of their home'. I'd never be able to show my face again!"

Nico smiled a little lopsidedly. "I guess I could stay here for a little while. It's not like you're house isn't already a zoo."

"The more the merrier!" said Ella, sliding down the stair rail. Of all the ways to enter, she would be the one to do such a thing.

"Excellent." He downed the rest of his cookie, looking excited. "I haven't slept in a bed since..."

"Since you left camp?" I asked, finishing his sentence for him.

He glared at me. Ella laughed a little at the foot of the stair, but he didn't hear. He was too busy trying to figure out if I was a half-blood or not, I could tell. I wonder when he would realize that, since Ella was with me that her and her entire family probably was too. Now that I knew as well, it was actually kind of obvious.

"Actually, I have to go." I collected my bags and homework from the cough and grabbed my coat from the place I had dropped it by the doorway.

As I passed Ella I could hear her humming.

"_Uh oh__  
__there you go again talking cinematic__  
__Yeah you!__  
__You're charming, got everybody star struck.__  
__I know__  
__how you always seem to go__  
__for the obvious instead of me__  
__but get a ticket and you'll see_

_If we were a movie!_

_You'd be the right guy!_

_And I'd be the best friend,_

_That you'd fall in love wi--"_

Her Hannah Montana concert was cut short, seeing as I stuffed a cookie in her mouth.

Dear Ella, you aggravate me.

**Longest. Chapter. Ever. Ten pages (with this note it just started 11). 3683 words. That's a lot. For me at least. So you all better review. I worked really hard! Oh, and give me you're input on my portrayal of Nico and of whether you like Karson's pov. I was kind of experimenting...**

**Oh, by the way, if anyone was wondering what songs Ella was singing, the first one was called Happy by Never Shout Never, you've probably never heard of him. The second was If We Were A Movie by Hannah Montana. That one you probably have heard of.**


	5. So Much for Hospitality

**a.n. Okay, so the different point of view seemed like it got some good feedback (thank you so so sooooooo much for reviewing!) so, I thought I would try to appease my buddies Nico obsession (as well as my own, but don't tell. :]) and make a chapter about Nico and his first impressions on the Grace Family. It's kind of like they are a circus group. They might just be the funnies people ever. Of course, I'm a little biased. Teehee.**

**Someone asked me what the pairings in this story were. I'm planning on (but not limited to) NicoXKarson (Narson :]) and DavidXElla (Della). Nathan is lonely. Character bios are welcome but might not be used. :) If you think of anyone else that I'm forgetting who needs a pairing, speak up. Or review, cause that's twice as helpful. :) :) :)**

_**Nico di Angelo, son of Hades**_

What is wrong with these people? They are crazy! And I've only been here, what? A few days? Actually, I could tell their insanity about ten minutes after that blond chick left (after stuffing a cookie in Ella's mouth for no apparent reason) and I was left alone with them.

I stand by my original statement.

These people are irrevocably insane.

I don't use words like "irrevocably" in normal conversation. But Avalee Grace does, the youngest. She's what, like, six? She's built like a china doll, with white skin, almost white hair, and pale blue eyes that are never quite focused. That child has a larger vocabulary than I do, and I've been alive for quite awhile. Even if I was stuck in a hotel doomed to never make it past my tenth birthday until a Fury disguised as a man removed me from said hotel. When you think about, it's actually pretty disturbing. I was removed from a hotel by a man-Fury. A man-Fury pretending to be a lawyer, no less.

I'm shuddering, even though you can't really see me.

Well, at least she acts like ADHD six year olds are supposed to when she isn't telling me how delectable Karson's cookies are and helping Ella with her math homework. Her brother, Alan, is a total different story.

That kid freaks me out sometimes.

And I'm a son of Hades, god of the Underworld. I deal with dead people on a regular basis. Being scared by a little blond kid with freaky eyes is a little strange when you walk around with ghosts and can summon skeletons from Hades. But this family isn't normal. That kid is too smart for his own good. He acts more like Chiron than anyone I have ever met. A six-year-old reminds me of an immortal horse. Am I the only one that finds this strange?

I told Ella how I thought that kid was bizarre. She gave me this huge smile. "I'm sure he thinks you're bizarre too. You smell like death."

She can smile all she wants. Ella Grace is still not normal.

She has black eyes, like me. Like Bianca. But in my opinion, they are way more intense than mine. And she is taller than I am, and she glows like neon in the dark. She reminds me of a Nereid. But she is always smiling, even when she says horrible things.

Nathan's not so bad. He's not sane, but he's pretty cool.

There is something about this whole family. The craziest thing is that they make me smile, practically 24/7, just by being there. Even Alan. They just are so crazy it rubs off. I need to get out of here before I find myself running down the street singing stuff from Disney movies, like High School Musical or something. That would be disturbing. And Karson would laugh at me. Actually, I'm pretty sure everyone would laugh at me. Even Percy, and he is all the way in Rhode Island. Who knows what kind of Super Spidey Sense that guy has. He would start laughing in the middle of a conversation, and Annabeth would look at him funny. I can see it.

Nathan's waking methods do not bade well with my sleeping patterns.

The first Saturday I was there, it was not fun. I was so warmly woken with a bucket full of water from the lake outside of the Grace's house. Keep in mind it's the middle of December, and snowing, and everything is ice, not to mention the temperature is -5000 degrees Fahrenheit.

Good morning.

I'm surprised I wasn't knocked out cold by a chunk of floating ice the size of my head.

I was sharing rooms with him, because they don't have a guest room. I was having second thoughts on sleeping on the roof. Being cold is much better than being cold and wet.

"What was that for?" I croaked, coughing as water seeped into my mouth and trickled down my throat like a spider was crawling down it. Ugh.

"Time to wake up," he said. The man was already dressed, his black hair wet and curly at the edges like he had just taken a shower. He smiled and threw me a set of clothes. I jumped away. I knew that I wasn't getting any spares, and walking around with a t shirt that has wet spots on it would not be fun. "At least you don't need a shower anymore." Nathan kicked the big blue plastic bucket as he walked out the door of his room.

"Wait, where are we going?" I called after, but he ignored me. I heard him laughing softly as he walked away. I sighed heavily and lay back down for a second.

Ella walked in holding the nozzle of a hose. "Are you up yet?"

"Whoa!" I said, hopping out of bed. "Yeah, wide awake." I blinked. Changing quickly and making sure that I had my dagger and a few drachma with me I left.

Avalee skipped down the steps, practically tripping and falling into me. "Hi, cousin Nico!" she smiled.

"Uh, hi," I answered when she didn't move to get off of me.

"Avalee, get off the poor boy," scolded Ella laughing.

Alan looked up at me, coming down after his sister. He smiled shyly. "Good morning."

"Morning Alan," I replied, smiling a little in spite of myself. "You wouldn't happen to know where we are going, would you?" I asked, picking up Avalee and setting her down beside me.

Alan cocked his head to the side. "Yes. I overheard them talking to Miss Maverick on the phone. They were talking about Christmas. And money. I believe we are going shopping."

I bit the inside of my cheek. "I don't really celebrate Christmas."

"We figured," said Avalee, giggling.

I didn't stop to wonder what they meant.

"Um, Ella, hey," I started, catching up with her. She had already walked out the door. Apparently everything is so freakin' small here they only have a car so that her father can go to the college. They walk everywhere else. Not that I'm complaining. I'm in pretty good shape, to be honest. But when you walk every one just sits and stares at you as you pass. The Grace's are pretty popular around town, so I'm left with the only solution. They're staring at me.

How rude.

"So, I don't actually..."

"Celebrate Christmas?" Ella finished, laughing casually a bit. "We figured."

I caught it that time.

"To be honest, we don't either," she whispered, like it was a secret. "But everyone else does, and it feels weird not joining in on all the fun, doesn't it?" she gave a little twirl so that she was walking backwards and facing me.

"I...never really thought about it much."

Nathan picked up Avalee, who giggled in delight. "Plus, you get free stuff. How much fun is that?"

"Not much when you're buying it," I muttered.

"Party pooper," Ella said, frowning. That alone made me smile. She couldn't even hold it for longer than a millisecond. A moment later she laughed happily.

"Can Nico hold me?" Avalee asked Nathan.

"Whoa, what?" I asked nervously. Handling hyper girls is not my forte. I get enough of that from people my own age. I know, surprises me too.

"I guess not." She sighed. "He isn't as strong as you are Nathan, huh?"

Alan, standing by my elbow, raised an eyebrow and taped on my arm with his knuckles, but I didn't really notice. "Solid as a rock," he whispered to Ella, who giggled.

I blushed a little. It's a horrible habit. "That's not it..."

The next thing I knew, little Avalee was being given a piggyback ride by yours truly. Oh, how the strong have fallen.

"You haven't been here a week and they already have you carrying their luggage around?"

I turned around a little too quickly on reflex and almost fell flat on my face while Ava howled in laughter as though it were a ride. This really threw off my balance.

Of course, Karson noticed. She was standing right behind me and almost got whacked in the nose by my flailing arm.

"Watch it!" she scowled.

She looked like a moldy marshmallow.

"Nice coat and matching...well, everything," I teased, dancing out of the way to avoid her elbow. I laughed a little, on the inside. "Who are you?" I asked the dude with her.

He was tall, and looked kind of sleepy, like he was used to sleeping in until mid-afternoon. He had really blue eyes and reddish brown hair.

"Oh!" Ella skipped up to us. "You haven't met. Jane, this is Nico. Nico, this is David Jane." She turned to him. "Nico is staying at our house while he stays here." She smiled big.

David immediately turned cold. "Nice to meet you," he said politely.

"Yeah, uh, you too." I winced as Avalee pulled at my hair. "Watch it."

"Sorry," she said sheepishly. She wiggled around a little, and I let her go as she hopped down, grabbing Alan's arm and running off. "Fun!"

"H-hey!" I started, beginning to run after them.

Nathan stopped me. "They can take care of themselves."

"They're six!"

"Do you seriously think Alan would let her get him in trouble?" Ella gasped. "I'm offended. What kind of heathens do you think we raised them to be?"

"Normal six year olds," I muttered. Karson punched my arm.

"Surely you've seen enough to know they can take care of themselves," she said. "I knew them for an hour and I could figure it out."

"Did you just imply I as stupid?"

"Go wear a bush, Nature Boy," she said, smiling a little.

I blushed. Slightly. "I wasn't wearing a bush—"

"You were just sitting in one. Because that's what all normal people do," she scoffed.

"Well, maybe that's true. You wouldn't know, because you aren't normal!" I retorted.

She raised a golden eyebrow. "I'm just as normal as you are, Mr. Rhode Island."

I opened my mouth to comment on my utter abnormality.

"So, if it wouldn't be rude to interrupt your Festival of Love and Wit here," Ella cut in. "We're shopping. And people are staring."

I blushed. "This is not a Festival of Love and Wit," I said, still blushing.

"And people are only staring because Nico has a huge bump on his nose," Karson added.

I frowned and fingered my nose. I couldn't feel a bump. I didn't bother checking. I'd dealt with worse. "Maybe if you didn't find the need to chuck rocks at innocent bystanders people wouldn't be. I could have been a rabbit! How would you have felt if you looked in the bush and found a rabbit?"

"I didn't find a rabbit. I found you."

"Besides," said Ella. "That's what I thought it was. She would have convinced herself it was a Hare just to spite me, and yes, there is a difference."

I took a deep breath. These people...

"Hey!" shrieked someone, flinging themselves out of nowhere around Karson's neck. Almost falling over, she righted herself quickly and looked at the person, then stared at her in utter disgust.

"Julia, what are you doing? You're going to give me back problems." She clawed her the hands clasped behind her neck.

Ella popped over out of nowhere and pressed on a point on her wrist. Julia snatched her hands away and stared at Ella like she was an alien. "All better?" she asked Karson, smiling. Karson scowled and rubbed her neck.

"Are you okay?" I asked the girl. Pressure points hurt like crap.

She immediately turned to me and forced a smile on her face.

"You don't have to pretend like it doesn't hurt," I told her. She has tan skin, even mid winter, and she looked Hawaiian or something like that.

"I'm fine," she said hastily, although she did it while rubbing her wrist, so I didn't really believe her. But hey, let her be stubborn.

Karson was glowering in her direction. "You're good friends, huh?" I said, laughing a bit. I was being sarcastic, but Julia shook her head _no_ so hard I thought it would fall off and bounce away.

"Someone dared me to jump on her," she admitted in a whisper, her hand covering her mouth. "To see what she would do."

I shrugged. "Can't blame you for being curious," I replied. "I would be too." I laughed a bit.

"Hey Julia," said Karson, smiling wickedly. She looked like trouble with blond hair and freckles. "How are you?"

"Good..."she said slowly. "I was just getting acquainted with..."

"Nico," I answered. I was a little confused. She was smiling in a really uncomfortable way, almost as uncomfortable as Karson's but in a completely different way. I stepped away from her a bit.

"You all are slow pokes!" Ella giggled a little ways away, waving at us like we were on the other side of a field of something.

"Um, we should go," I said, half to Karson and half to Julia.

Julia nodded enthusiastically. "Bye! See you at school!" She started running back the way she had come.

School? I was _not _going to school. Sorry to burst her bubble.

We only stayed out long enough to have looked at every item there was and sample each food that came our way. That took about, eh, long. With five _o_'s and three exclamation points. L-o-o-o-o-o-n-exclamation-point-exclamation-point. Looooong!!!

And one exclamation point is usually my limit. I needed to punch something. Maybe a tree. I needed to beat up a plant.

That's...quite sad.

I didn't though. That's always a good thing.

"I'm pretty sure that's illegal," Ella commented.

"Only on, like, protected stuff," David added. It was the first thing he had said to me all day besides "hello". And after he said it he completely tripped over his own foot and almost did a face-plant on the sidewalk. Good thing the snow was there to cushion his fall. He gave a muffled, "ughhhhh," his face embedded in the snow, before forcing himself up.

Ella picked a chunk of ice out of his hair, and he blushed even worse than I do. "Honestly, you're such a clumsy little boy," she said laughing.

"I'm taller than you!"

"Oh really?" she asked innocently, and skipped off before he could solidify his argument.

Karson snickered. "Aren't they so cute together?" she teased.

Avalee shook her head in agreement enthusiastically. "Aren't they just? They compliment each other so well." She was absolutely serious.

Alan shivered. "I hate to think what Ella's going to do when she hears what you are saying." He smiled shyly.

"Who's going to tell? Nico?" Avalee insisted. "A mouse?"

"Ella has her way of knowing," Karson said.

"It's not as good as ours," Ava said stubbornly. Once again, I didn't pause to think of what she meant.

I must be the stupidest guy on the planet Earth.

*****

I never thought I would want to be alone with the Grace siblings. But, anything was better than being ignored by David Jane and constantly threatened to be beat up by Karson, even sitting up in the attic with only the company of Nathan, Ella, and their Grande piano, stuffed full of free samples.

At least that's what I thought before I woke up the next morning. But I'm not there yet.

Nathan sat at the piano, music-less, with Ella sitting by the stool at his feet on the floor. I sat in front of the huge circular window that nestled in the wall and over looked the front of their property, listening. Nathan never struck me as a musician, but he was apparently a piano prodigy. He played Claire de Lune from memory perfectly, and barely blinked an eye.

Ella smiled up at him. "I'm so jealous," she said wistfully. "I'm stuck with the guitar."

"You play the guitar?" I asked, shocked. She looked...nothing like a guitar player. Then again, messy haired Nathan looked nothing like a classical piano player, so I guess this family is just that kind of family.

Ella nodded happily. "And Alan is a great flutist, and Avalee plays the violin."

I stared at her. "Prove it."

Ella got this horrible glint in her eye, like she was about to do something evil. "Certainly."

Nathan stifled laugher.

Ella left the attic for a moment and then returned, carrying a wooden guitar in her hands.

"I met a man of two feet tall.

This man was quite ambitious,

In a world that is so vicious to us all.

I said 'hi',

And he replied.

He said listen to these words that I have lived by my whole life.

That you're only as tall,

As your heart will let you be.

And you're only as small,

As the world with make you seem.

And when the going gets tough,

And you feel like you may fall,

Just look on the bright side,

You're roughly six feet tall.

I met a man of twelve feet tall.

He towered like a giant,

In a world that was defiant of his height.

I said 'hi'

And he replied.

He said listen to these words that I have dreaded my whole life.

You're only as tall,

As your heart will let you be.

And you're only as small,

As the world will make you seem.

And when the going gets tough,

And you feel like you may fall,

Just look on the bright side,

You're roughly six feet tall.

I am a man of six feet tall.

Just looking for some answers,

In a world that offers none of them at all.

I'll say 'hi',

But not reply,

To the letters that you write

Cause I have found some piece of mind.

I'm only as tall,

As my heart will let me be.

And I'm only as small,

As the world will make me seem.

And when the going gets tough,

And I feel like I will fall,

I'll look on the bright side.

I'm roughly six feet tall."

I didn't hear what she said after that, because by the time she was finished I had fallen asleep. I suspect it was an evil smile to accompany the glint in her eyes.

Never fall asleep in the same room as Ella and Nathan Grace, spawn of the devil.

You might just end up like me.

*****

"Nico?"

"Wha—ahhhh!" I screamed as I woke up. Mostly because I had jerked awake and somehow managed to fall off of the roof onto which I somehow found myself.

That's right. While I was sleeping, they moved me from the attic to the roof in the middle of winter and I didn't even wake up.

I caught the branch of a tree with my hands, trying to break my fall to the ground. What happen was the impact almost jerked my arms out of their sockets. I winced, but swung myself up and sat hard on my butt onto the branch, a few feet away from where Karson stood. "Uh...hi."

She stared at me. "What were you doing on the roof?"

_I thought it would be pleasant to sleep in a pile of snow and get hypothermia. Why, where ever else would I imagine spending the night? A nice warm bed? Preposterous! _

Before I had the pleasure of going off of my tangent of sarcasm and cynicism, Ella stuck her little head out of her bedroom window.

"Good morning!" she said cheerfully.

I glared at her. Karson tried to but the corners of her mouth quivered like she was trying not to smile.

"So much for hospitality," I muttered, when Karson burst into a fit of laughter.

And then I couldn't help it.

I smiled too.

**Huzzah! Another chapter! :)**

**Next chapter it's going to start going into the cool part, so I have a very important question for you all.**

**Whose pov??? Which did you like best? Ella, Karson, or Nico? Or would you rather it be someone new, like David, Nathan, Alan, or Avalee? I need to know!**

**He song Ella sang Nico o sleep with was called On the Brightside, by Never Shout Never. I'm on a Never Shout Never kick. :)**

**Review review review!**


	6. The Bomb of the Century

**a.n. Okay, so no one really told me whose POV they wanted the next chapter in. Shame on you. We really should fix this. But, since the story must go, I drew a name out of a hat (literally) and guess who it was? NATHAN GRACE! :) Didn't see that coming, huh? Well, maybe you did. And it helps that Nathan happens to be my favorite guy at the moment. We really need to get him a girl...(hint hint)**

_**Nathan Grace, Son of ______ (it's a secret) :)**_

__"Ella, it's time for school!" I shouted up the steps. "Why do you take so long?"

"You can't talk, Mr. Pantsless!" she shouted back, leaning over the stair rail.

"Oops." I ducked back into my room. Nico snored on the extra bed, a strand of drool falling out from his mouth. His head was where is feet should have been and his feet were resting by the headboard. I would clean the pillowcase. Those boys' feet were _not_ suitable for my nostrils. They had the most interesting odor that I would have preferred to remain under the coffin with the dead body. I know he is a son of Hades and all, but the whole dead thing must converge at his feet. It's like he walks in it.

I pulled on pants that were conveniently lying on the floor and walked over to him, ducking so my face was by his ear. "Should I get the bucket?"

His eyes opened immediately, both raven black and glaring at me like I was something smelly. Maybe his feet were rubbing off on me. Or maybe the pants were dirtier than I had thought they were. Or maybe he was just an angst ridden, brooding teenager. It was probably option C.

"Why do _I_ have to wake up? I don't go to school!" he said, sitting up and leaning against the wall. His hair was sticking up in every direction.

"Alan thinks we are going to have company..." I said smiling ear to ear. What a strange term. It's sort of a hyperbole, because you can't _really_ smile ear to ear.

...

Darn ADHD. You have made me abandon my line of thought. Alas, I have been defeated.

Unfortunately, my mental disability isn't something you can stab with a magical sword, and thus will have to wait for a while to be dealt with.

That's about when Alan started counting out loud. "Three...two...one..."

The doorbell rang just as Ella threw it open and ran into David, standing on our doorstep. They both fell into the snow.

"David, oh my goodness!" she started. "I'm so sorry!" I laughed, looking out from my room at the bottom of the steps. Nico popped out his head just below mine.

Ella immediately got off of him, but David just lay in the snow. "Nathan?" she yelled back after a moment. "I think I killed him..." She poked him with her foot. "I killed him! Now I'm going to be late for school!" With a small scream she leapt over him with surprising grace for someone half-asleep and raced off into the street. "I need a milkshake!" David continued to lie there. He gave a little moan.

I was content to stand and laugh at him. Nico, still in his pajamas, ran outside without shoes on to help him up. Alan went with him, and Avalee followed Nico adoringly. I think she has her first crush. I told him this before, and he hit me. Hard. But his facial expression was priceless. I don't regret it in the least.

When we got him inside, he didn't look so good. He moved sluggishly. His nose was red and his eyes drooped. When I took his temperature, it was 100.2. He had headaches, body pains, and terrible cough, and he felt like the inside of a toilet. "I have SWINE!" he shouted dramatically. "I'm going to die!"

Avalee thumped him on the head. "Don't say that," she scolded, a little too serious. I guess she realized just how possible it was. Alan and her, of course, has found out about Karson's theory.

"Why are you over here?" Nico asked sternly. "If you're sick you should be at home, asleep or something."

"My brother is at school," he answered, blue eyes dull. "Dad is being dad, and doesn't want to come home from work." He gave me the evil eye. "Aren't you supposed to be in school?"

I shrugged. "Alan and Avalee's babysitter could come last minute, and we had no time to make arrangements." I patted Avalee on the head like a dog. "I had to stay home to take care of the little ones."

Ava brushed my hand away. "More like _we _need to take care of _you."_ She smiled and ran off.

Alan cocked his head to the side and gazed at us all through his chillingly pale blue eyes. Then he gave a little smile. He looked at me. "Daddy comes back today."

"Dad went on a two week long trip to do something for the book he is writing," I answered in answer to the silent question I knew was coming any minute.

Nico nodded to say he understood.

"Why aren't _you _in school?" David asked.

Nico's ears went red. "I'm just visiting."

"You've already been here for a while."

David was good. His jealousy over Nico staying over with our fabulous family put Nico in a fairly funny predicament. I leaned against the wall, amusement in my eyes, and listened. I knew I would get scolded later for not helping, either by him, Karson, or Alan.

When he realized I wouldn't jump in and pull this whole thing off with my many years of acquired skills in the art of All Things Deceitful, he took a little breath. "I'm here for personal stuff..." he looked away. Mom and dad aren't really getting along well after my sister...after she died..." He kept looking at the floor.

Man, that guy is good.

"Well, that should take care of similar inquiries," said Alan smiling. Secretly, I think he enjoyed it just as much as I did.

Avalee skipped back in, which wasn't such a good idea, since she was carrying a nearly full bowl of steaming hot chicken noodle soup dangerously close to spilling all over her. Somehow, even when jumping up and down, not one little drop fell. She handed it to David, who Alan had wrapped up in a blanket.

He ate it greedily, finishing it with a tad bit more energy. Alan took his temperature at regular intervals.

"You know, I never understood what they meant when they said 'we're taking care of _you'_ and all that," Nico said into my ear, and I stifled a laugh. "We really aren't doing anything."

Avalee whispered something in my ear.

My reaction was comical, so I'm told. My eyes bugged out, and my mouth went into a stern line, my jaw clenched. "You put _what_ in his soup?"

Nico, who had no idea what she had said, looked suspiciously at his drink.

"Nectar!" she said cheerfully.

"That was not called for."

"Well, I wanted to make sure," she said happily.

"I told you not to," Alan scolded.

"And it's okay! Because he didn't die!" She threw her hands up in the air. Alan shook his head in amusement. Nico looked at her in horror. I just plain stared.

"You know, for someone who can do AP Calculus 3 at the age of six, that wasn't a very smart thing to do," I told her.

"I knew it would work. Alan drew a picture." She smiled.

Alan went red and muttered something about being reckless.

"What does drawing a picture have to do with putting potentially lethal Nectar into David's soup?" Nico said, his voce louder than usual.

"You know, when a group of people huddle around in a corner and whisper you name in some serious conversation, it kind of makes one worry," said David from the couch, his eyes still dull but not quite as lifeless. "Of course, two of them are six. Getting them started early, Grace? You're tainting the next generation." He smiled a bit.

"It's not the next generation until I get a girl," I responded.

Nico made a face. "Not called for."

David decided not to comment.

He fell asleep.

"Um...Nico?" said Alan shyly, tugging on his sleeve. "Why are you really here?"

Avalee looked at him expectantly.

His ears went red again. "Think of it as an experiment and a well deserved break."

"Experiment?" I asked.

"Yeah. See, there is this camp at this place...for these people..."

"Wow, very descriptive there, my friend," I said, rolling my eyes. "No need to be so secretive. We're all family here."

"What do you mean?"

"Honestly!" I threw my hands up then looked over at David to make sure he was asleep. "Is it a child of Hades thing to be slow, or is just you?"

His face was fun to watch. At first it was awe, then consideration, and then suspicion. Slowly he backed away.

"You're hurting my feelings, you know. Ouch!" I clutched my hand to my chest. "My heart."

"What...are you?" he asked slowly, his black eyes glinting.

"Well, we aren't monsters, if that's what you're thinking," said Avalee. "We had a whole conversation about putting Nectar into David's soup and you still didn't catch on!"

"Oh..." He went red. I guess when you live in that world all the time, you're used to having talks like that. "Well then..."

"Let's see..." I started. "Karson is a daughter of Apollo, Ella and I are both children of a minor goddess, and Alan and Avalee are...Well, we aren't actually sure," I lied. No need for him to know _that_, lest he throttle them.

"_What _are you talking about?" asked David from his spot of the couch.

"What'd you hear?" asked Alan.

"That Karson was the daughter of an apple and that Ella and Nathan are children of metal goodness. And then something about Alan and Avalee that I'd rather not repeat."

I snapped my fingers. "Darn. You figured it out. Guess we aren't as quiet as we thought we were, right?" I asked Nico. He stared at me in wonder. But David laughed and didn't answer, so my job was done.

Or so I thought.

Actually, I knew it wasn't over; I just really wanted to put that in here. Doesn't it just sound so foreboding? Like someone is going to die or something.

It wasn't until that soup had traveled down to his bladder and David was in need of the porcelain bowl upstairs that I was in a fix. He knew where it was and went without asking, which is rude and this would have never happened if he had remembered his manners, but he was sick, so I shall forgive him.

So, here's the following conversation.

Alan: Where'd David go?

Nathan: Upstairs, I think. Went to the bathroom.

Avalee: My dear, this is a predicament...

Nathan: Dearest sister, why ever so?

Alan and Avalee: I think we left the door open.

Nico: To the bathroom?

Alan: No...

Avalee: Our bedroom, silly!

At this, I promptly jumped up from my position half sunken into the cushy recliner and ran up to their room.

See, the twins have this kind of...trance. Sort of like the Oracle, only they don't say anything. They draw what they see, images instead of words, mostly, onto anything. Napkins, walls, paper, t-shirts, each others limbs. It happened once when we were at a museum. The wall was much more colorful in my opinion. Now we make sure they always have a sketchbook. It's amazing how life-like those things are. You can feel the leaves of trees, or smell flowers, or hear birds wings flapping. They are like miniature Picasso's.

The only problem is that they are always as pleasant as trees, flowers, or birds flying freely on the wind. The weeks before the war with the Titan's, anything they drew they shoved into a folder without looking and passed it on to us without even seeing what they had drawn. They were that gruesome. Monsters with cut off heads. Demigods with fatal wounds. A shining figure in a tree with goat boys around him. A flying pig.

Now, that wouldn't have been a problem. Except, now they pin most of their pictures to the walls of their bedroom, which you can see just by passing.

When we got their, we saw David, wrapped in a blanket, staring at a piece of paper in his hands, surrounded by pictures of rainbows and flying pigs.

"This is me."

It was. It was a picture of him and Ella, her hair pulled back into a ponytail, her eyes wild, a dark solid shadow playing about her fingertips ready for use, wings the same white as clouds sprouting from his back. He looked like an angel, compared to her dark coloring and the look on her face.

"This is me...but..." he said, tapping the date written in the corner. It was drawn four years ago. "You didn't know me." He pointed to Avalee, who was the one how had drawn it. "You would have been two."

"I can remember a lot of things from when I was two," she said cheerfully as Alan took down another picture and handed it to him. It was all dark and gray, and drops of rain could be made out, with a car wreck in the background. In the front was me, holding Avalee piggy-back style and grabbing onto Alan's hand by my side, walking away from the wreckage.

It was hard to look at, even for me. For once, I wasn't smiling in the picture, my entire face was crazy different, like I was an alien. Not to mention the bloody gash on my arm or the tattered remains of our clothes.

And then David reached out to take it from him.

"Wait, don't do that," I said, lunging for him, Nico behind me with a similar reaction, like he knew what was coming.

So, I'm pretty sure it's due to divine interference that we all happened to touch it at the same time, cause that would never have happened. David should have fallen over when I tackled him, because he's such a clutz. But he didn't, and my impromptu mission failed. To whoever's fault this is, random mystery god/goddess, that was a foul.

See, some of the twins drawings are...special. A picture they draw in a trance that has already happened. Mostly to them, or people they are around. Like memories. And when one of the twins is touching it at the same time you are, you can be teleported into their story, in a way. Avalee calls them _waking dreams._ Alan calls them _gateways. _Dad calls them intriguing. Ella and I call them pain in the butts. The only memories worth seeing are the memories that you don't want to see.

Like this one.

The three of us—Nico, David, and I—were like ghosts, looking out at everything like we were there but being ignored (or unseen) like we weren't. It was gray, upsettingly so. Gray enough to make me wonder whether it had been day or night. Lightning flashed and the _pitter patter _of rain drops drenching everything nearly drowned out the _tap tap_ of someone's footsteps. Almost.

"Nathan, what are we _doing_ here?" someone said, breaking past a tree. It was Ella, four years younger. Her hair was tied back and she didn't have her bangs, bits of black clinging to her face and neck. "It's wet and I'm cold and I really want a taco."

Someone snorted behind her.

"What's wrong with wanting a taco?" she demanded.

"Nothing," said someone else—me—as I ran two steps behind. "Unless you just killed a bunch of _dracaena_ and are covered with monster guts and 'scratches' like we are. Tends to make one lose their appetite."

Ella just stared.

"Okay, _normal_ people lose their appetite."

"Norma people? Why on earth ore you talking to me about _normal people?_ It's not like it applies."

_Gateway_ me sighed. "A guy can dream."

"Still, what are we hear for? I _really _want a taco."

"Nothing's open this late anyway."

"Then I'll go _home_ and get a taco. But stop being evasive and answer my freaking question."

_Gateway_ Nathan pointed ahead. Through rain, you could see the slightest hint of something red on the horizon that was definitely not the sun. It was fire.

They made much faster than I remember it taking. Must be a lot different when you aren't running so hard you feel like your feet are going to fall off and leave you.

The wreck was nasty. The main chuck that was left of the car smoked like it would burst into fire at any minute. Twisted pieces of metal lay in disarray over the entire area like it had been hit by a bomb. The grass (since the car had been blown clear off the road) around it was scorched and brown and dead.

And then, I heard voices.

"Hello?" someone said, but it wasn't my voice. It was much smaller, and it came from the trees.

"We came all the way for a wreck?" Ella said. She hadn't heard.

"Go get your taco."

"Finally!" And with that she ran out of sight. Ella isn't nearly as flighty as she was four years ago. But she's just as focused.

"Hello?" I had asked.

"Boy!" said the small voice again. "Alan! Alan, wake up! It's the boy! The one with the dark eyes that you drew! Wake up!"

Two little white-blond heads popped out from a bush, one surprisingly alert for one who had just woken up, and another shining with joy, which was out of place since they were all dirty and grimy and tattered with leaves and bits of twig stuck in their hair. Both looked like toddlers physically, but they boy's eyes were eerily knowledgeable, like a veteran who'd seen too many deaths stuck in the body of a two year old.

The girl crawled out and stood, pressing her hand to her chest as she introduced herself. "My name is Avalee!" she said excitedly, and I could already tell this girl had one temperament: euphoric. Not just happy. Euphoric. "You have absolutely no idea how long we've been waiting for you, my brother and I."

Her brother, the same height, pale skin, icy blue eyes, and white blond hair as Avalee and just as porcelain doll-like, perhaps even more so.

"I am Alan," he said, pronunciation ringing from his lips like from an old British man, which was strange. But that's a good thing, because strange is what I'm used to.

"How did you wreck your car?" When I said it, I realized it sounded as though they had been the ones driving.

"Lightning."

They both looked up at the angry tongues of electricity flailing in sky.

"I'm Nathan. Nathan Grace."

"We know!" said Avalee, her voice high as she jerked back to the present. "Nathanial Peter Grace. See!" She handed dream me a drawing of Ella, dad and I, around the dinner table with a candle lit in the middle, and I could taste the burgers all over again. "And that's Elodie Natalia Grace, and Peter Owen Grace." She clapped, as if she were introducing me to my sister and father and thought we would be the best of friends.

"What happened to your mother?"

Avalee flapped her hand in dismissal. "Oh, she is long gone. Left a whole month ago," she said, her happiness slightly less, but still determinedly strong.

"Then how did you get into the car?" I asked. I would have guessed they weren't even in the car sizzling beside me as the rain hit unless I could see their scratches and gruesome cuts, sickeningly red, underneath their tattered clothes, which they ignored, but Alan winced when he moved and Avalee subconsciously held her side while she talked.

"There was this really mean man,"

Alan cocked his head to the side. "How did you know we were here?"

Both me and _gateway _me smiled. They knew everything about my family. They probably knew the rest of it too. "My mom told me."

Avalee and Alan both smiled, and he didn't seem like an old man, just a shy kid that knew too much. He was sweet I found out later, giving up stuff for his sister, letting everyone else go first on _everything _before even thinking of himself. And his little bursts of humor were that much funnier. It hadn't been until I was walking back, Avalee on my back and Alan's hand in mine that I realized I had just gotten a new set of siblings.

"Dude, you work fast!" Ella cried, bouncing up again, a bag in her hand which I had presumed (quite accurately) was full of the taco she had been whining about. I never was sure of how she got it. "So you're Alan and Avalee?"

I caught my breath, the real me, I mean. I had forgotten this part.

"How'd you know?" Avalee asked, already looking up at Ella adoringly. It was weird, to see Avalee's icy whiteness up against Ella's dark coloring, with exception to her skin, which was just as white as the two year olds.

Ella raised an eyebrow. "A little birdie told me." And then she smiled, but she never told me how she had known.

Lightning struck twice as hard, then abated. And then night took over, the gray clouds suddenly whisked away by its ink blackness, which I found strangely soothing.

But then it wasn't night anymore. It was just black. And I knew the _gateway_ was closing.

"What...was that...?" questioned David between deep breaths, like he was going to faint or something. He looked like a ghost and all shaken up. As I thought this I got the strangest image of someone sticking him in a barrel and rolling him down a hill.

"A pain in the butt," I answered wryly. I rolled my neck, a little stiff.

"No kidding."

Nico and I jumped up, one our feet in an instant. David, who had swine and not been fighting monsters (that we know of) since he was practically in the womb, kept lying on the floor.

A peeved Ella stood the doorway. Karson was behind her, staring at the pictures. Apparently she hadn't been in the room before. It wasn't exactly on the grand tour.

"You _told _him? I'm gone for eight hours, and you let, like, the biggest bomb in a century drop on his sick little head? After I ran him over, no less!" she scolded, as if it were my fault she had ran off after shouting her need for a milkshake.

"We _haven't_ told him. He saw!" I said. "The twins left their door open and he had to make use of that room with the toilet across the hall."

It was only then that I registered the look of both Nico and Karson's face. They were staring. At both of us. Neither of us was smiling. When we aren't smiling, we get scary. Sure, we can fight bloodthirsty monsters with a great deal of optimism, but when you deal such things, happiness goes out the window. Unless you are Ava. Then she can still smile.

"Look, I know you wanted to tell him," I told her quietly, so no one else could hear. "He doesn't know all the details. Go ahead and let her rip. We'll go downstairs."

She took a deep breath. "I'll forgive you if you get me a milkshake."

I shrugged and smiled, like nothing had happened. "Actually, I've had the strangest need for a taco."

"Tacos would be an excellent substitute."

"Then consider it done."

Avalee, Alan, Nico, and I went down the steps. I didn't want to be involved in the "bomb dropping" unless necessary. No use ruining anyone else's life.

"We're just like one big happy family, right?" Avalee said, bouncing.

Nico scowled. "You know, I'm not staying."

I smiled, laughing a little. "You're staying for a while at any rate."

"What do you mean?" he asked suspiciously.

"Well, you never know," I said. "The next bomb of the century could be dropping on our heads any moment now."

"That sounds awfully foreboding."

Alan, Avalee, and I just smiled knowingly.

**YES! Finally! Updated!**

**Here is the deal. The next chapter will be in Nathan's pov again, if all goes as planned, but feel free to let me know what you want, since it hasn't been written yet. You know what that means.**

** REVIEW!**


	7. That was the Plan

**a.n. Haha! Hey ya'll! It's going to be Nathan again. I'll try to make it more action-y. And the entrance of...:)**

**Ella Grace next chapter, unless you don't want that. And I'm in dire need of a plot. A major plot. Right now, this entire story is on fillers created from my writers block. I hope I'm hiding it nicely. **

_**Nathan Grace, Son of ______ (it's a secret) :)**_

"Nathan, I hate you. With a passion. A deep, burning passion festering in the darkest recesses of my heart."

"Interesting."

With Nico hooked under my elbow, I continued on my way to school.

"Ella left too early, since she had to help grade papers, Karson went with her, and David still has swine flu, so it's just you and me!"

And then he glared at me right in the eye, black meeting black, and I felt every bit of festering passion of hatred that resided in this brooding boys body. It's quite a bit.

Not that it bothered me.

"You've been here for a while. I get lonely at lunch, and we have a while!" I insisted, all but dragging him down the sidewalk.

"Because you don't have about twenty girls fawning over you in a regular basic." Nico laughed a little.

"Who told you that?"

"Common sense."

I laughed. "I'm sure you used to fawning girls, right? Mr. Dark Brooding Hero?" I paused. "I'm sure you've been mobbed before."

"You mean other than the time Ella and Karson through a rock at my head?" he said sourly.

"That definitely did _not_ count as mobbing. I mean screaming fan girl mob. Like, Zac Efron style." I grinned. "Except he's not...you know...lethal. And the son of a god."

Nico looked at me dryly. "Then again, you never know."

"You know, you would fit right in at school. That whole 'I hate the world' thing is really popular right about now. You'd practically be invisible."

"Especially since all of my education has been in ancient Greek and _100 Ways to Behead a Hellhound._"

I sighed. "Gee, always the optimist, Nico. You and Karson were made for each other. You can go feed puppies and volunteer at homeless shelters. Spread the good cheer, you know." I hauled him along faster before he could make a comment.

"You know, for someone so laid-back, you can be surprisingly pushy."

"Shut up. I didn't wake you up for nothing."

"You poured ice water on my _head_!"

"Yes. You should be thanking me."

"_WHY?!_"

"Here we are," I said happily. I checked my watch. "We still have about half and hour to get some fast food or something."

"Good, so you can let me go!"

"Nope."

Nico sighed, heavily. "I can't believe you have an hour to eat."

I shrugged. "The school decided to have one full, school wide lunch _hour_ instead of multiple thirty minute periods. I like it better."

He scowled. "Yeah. Now you can drag dark brooding heroes along with you after pouring water on their heads."

"It's late."

"It's, like, eleven o' clock!"

"I'm actually pretty sure that you have to get up at the crack of dawn after beating up campers and climbing walls that spew lava all day. You can suck it up."

He stopped. "What do _you_ know about camp? Karson said your entire family never even went to camp."

I looked at him side-long. "No. _Ella's _never been to camp. Alan and Avalee haven't either, as far as any of us know. _I_, however, have." I smiled impishly. "One summer."

Nico didn't say anything. He just looked at me, hard, with dull eyes. Kind of like a glare. That's what he did when he was listening, processing information that was new to him.

"It actually wasn't even a whole summer, so I'm hardly an expert. But still." Then I walked away, still holding his arm, as if the conversation had never happened.

"Crazy Grace," he muttered.

Five minutes later, we were eating burgers from a local food place (_Rixby's_, if you care*) when Nico suddenly laughed. He didn't laugh at just anything. I wondered if he were imagining a creative way to introduce me to his father. But he wasn't. He was looking at two girls, laughing, and then he looked at me. "Zac Efron style."

"...you have a boyfriend, my dear," one was saying. "One that's waiting for you. Right there."

"But still!"

"And as far as I know, Nathan Grace hasn't gone out with anyone...ever. At all. He could be gay, for all you know."

I laughed.

They didn't notice.

"That's not exactly what comes to mind when I see him..."

"I don't want to know what you think when you see him," the first girl said dryly. "Believe me I don't. But now, you need to be thinking of your boyfriend. The one that's waiting for you. Go!" The pushed the other girl toward the boy that was waiting. Then, once her friend was gone, she shot me a glare, hardly expecting me to be watching. I waved merrily. "Oh, shut up."

"Do I know you?" I asked innocently. Then I whispered to Nico, "That's hardly counted as a mob."

"At least she didn't through a rock at your head."

"Weren't you in a bush?"

"Shut up."

"Come on, Nature Boy, no need to be snippy."

"I hate nature."

"Along with everything that is good and cheerful. What about puppies? Chocolate? Delicate old ladies?"

He stood up. "I'm going home. Shut up, eat your burger, and flirt with Miss Curly Q." Then he left.

"Say _hello_ to Karson for me!" I shouted behind him. He glared at me over one shoulder.

Miss Curly Q was a fitting name. She was average height, 5'4, maybe an inch or two taller, and somewhere between slender and curvy, if that's possible. She had a wild mane of curly brown hair, the kind of spirals you couldn't get with a curling iron, which hit just at her shoulder. Her eyes were smoky blue.

"What's your problem, Grace?" she inquired.

"So I _do_ know you!"

She smiled a little half smiled. "Not that I know of, actually. Melissa does."

"The one that thinks weird things when she see me?" To my surprise, she laughed. I thought she would be pissed. "You're only about half as quiet as you think you are. Hate to break it to you."

"I've been told," she said good-naturedly, flapping a hand at me.

I grinned. "Have you also been told you're slightly bipolar? I saw that look you gave me. You looked like you wanted to eat my head."

"Eh," she replied. "Wouldn't have tasted good anyway." She shrugged. "Slow to anger, quick to forgive. That's me." She flashed me a grin.

"_Slow to anger?"_ I asked. "You looked pretty angry to me."

"It was slow in the making," she said, tilting her head to the side, her curls falling to the left in a wave. "She's been talking about you for _ages._ It was sickening."

"Sickening. Really?"

She smiled and nodded enthusiastically. "Just like everything else about you."

"Ouch. My heart," I said dryly, clutching my chest. "I'm wounded. _Wounded. _Internally, of course."

"I ain't no doctor," she said sweetly. Then she turned and began to walk off. "See ya."

"What's you're name?" I asked, realizing she hadn't given me one.

She looked over her shoulder slyly. "Figure it out for yourself, Zac Efron." She laughed. "You're only half as quiet as you think you are. Hate to break it to you." Then she was out of sight.

"Touché." I finished my lunch in record time.

Nico was waiting for me at the door. "That girl is scary."

"What girl?" I asked, shoving the text books I only need in the morning on the table by the door, next to my dads glasses and papers stacked in disarray.

"The one you were talking to."

"Miss Curly Q?"

He nodded.

"Why?" I asked absently.

He took a deep breath. "She showed up, like, five minutes ago, with Avalee."

"Avalee?" He now had my full attention.

"She went out for a _walk_," Nico said in disgust. "I know they're not normal or anything, but seriously. Couldn't they try harder to blend in?"

"Nico," I said. "Avalee. Miss Curly Q. Crazy. Continue!"

"Oh, right." He blushed. "Sorry. ADHD and all."

I raised an eyebrow. "Tell me about it."

"Anyway, she shows up and starts talking to me, and when she left she hadn't told me anything but knew everything about me. And Avalee said that the girl had known her name and address without asking."

"Maybe she's a stalker."

He glared. "I don't like her." He looked out the window. "Too many secrets."

I looked up at the railing of the stairs. Avalee was looking down at us, Alan by her side. Both were giving us those faces. The ones that tell you they know way too much.

"And yet I have the strangest feeling we'll be seeing a lot of her."

Man, was I right.

A little _too_ right, actually.

"Cassandra Hart, welcome to pre calculus." Thank you, Ms. Letterman.

"Cassandra, huh?"

She smiled. "Shut up."

"Seriously, you have no idea how much that was killing me."

"Oh, I do," she assured me. _Cassandra. "_I hate that name though. Cass is fine."

"Cass," I repeated. The name felt weird on my tongue. "Isn't it fate that we were seated next to each other?"

"It's something."

I paused. "Isn't 'Cassandra' Greek?"

Cass nodded, looking at me out of the side of her eyes. "Yeah. My mom named me after a Greek prophetess. She's totally in to that kind of thing. 'Seeing the future' and all that jazz." She grimaced. "Of course, she came to a cruel and bitter end. Then again, in Greek mythology, who doesn't?"

"The gods," I answered immediately. "They're immortal, after all."

"Ah, but perhaps immortality in itself is the cruelest end of all," she said slowly, and I had the feeling she meant it, like she put a lot of thought into it.

Silence.

"What was hers?" I asked.

"What was whose?"

"Cassandra," I said. "What was her 'cruel end'?"

Cass bit her lip. "She was cursed by Apollo. To always tell the truth, but no matter what, no one would believe her. She was made out to be an absolute lunatic. And she saw horrible things, with that gift of hers, seeing the future."

I had a flash of knowledge. "But wasn't she killed somehow totally unrelated?"

She smiled. "She was brought somewhere as a kings mistress and his jealous wife did her in. Typical, right?" She sighed. "Still, cursed is cursed, whether it kills you or not."

Our days continued like that. Strange conversations. Mythology quizzes, to see who knew more, and how long we could talk before Ms. Letterman caught us. It was like that for about two weeks. Nico had left for camp a couple of days after the first time I met Cass Hart, but he returned not long before the lockdown. I knew he couldn't stay away.

Oh, wait. The lockdown.

"I hate these," Ruby Meyers muttered. "Stupid drills."

"Shut _up_!" Ms. Letterman hissed. We did. Shut up, I mean. It was ms. Letterman, nerdy math teacher extraordinaire. Shut up was not in her vocabulary. One by one it hit us. The panicked sound in the persons voice over the intercom, Ms. Letterman's surprising snap. The eerie footsteps echoing. Right. Out. Our. Door.

Cass, pressed up beside me, the arm of her sweatshirt hot against my bare arm, breathed heavily. I heard her muttering. "Not now. Why Now? Why me? Dear _gods_...Take me now..." she shut her eye closed. I felt her hand moving, playing with something in the baggy pocket of her sweatshirt. "Not now...not now..." she prayed.

Apparently no one was listening.

The door opened with a _BAM_ that rattled my teeth. Cass sucked in a bucket load of breath. Melissa, who was also in our class, shrieked in my ear. Ms. Letterman fainted in the corner. Surprisingly, so did Marcus Ryan, school quarterback, pinning Peter Louis, who had the unfortunate luck of being in our room grading papers when the announcement rang, against the wall, pale white in fear.

Because the girl that walked in was nasty. At least, in some ways. Her face was beautiful, all angular, ridiculously high cheek bone, huge lips, her hair dark black and shining, but her skin was tinted blue. Her hair twisted and writhed like she was in water. Her eyes were completely black. The tips of elongated canine teeth peeked out over her blood red mouth. Her nails were filed to points, so they were more like claws than fingernails.

She sniffed, then turned, looking at us kids, stuffed into the corner behind the teachers desk. Staring at _me._ She smiled, red mouth stretching, her sharp teeth visible. She licked her lips, and I got her meaning. She cackled. "Nathanial!" she sang, her voice like bells. "Can you catch me?"

I stood, slowly. Cass grabbed for my hand, trying to pull me down, but I snatched it away. "Maybe."

"Maybe," she echoed. "Can you catch me _before I catch someone else?"_ She cackled again, bells ringing in my ears, and fled from the room.

I didn't think. I just ran. I followed her floating black hair down the hallway. "Nathan! You idiot!" Cass called behind me. I recognized it without looking.

"I'll be fine!" I assured her. _I always am._

"Catch me if you can!" the woman taunted, her voice sickeningly sweet. "Little _Night Doll."_

_Night Doll._

"Shut it!" I called at her. Her laughter rang. Since when were these hallways so dang _reverberating?_

But we weren't in the school anymore. I had already bolted past the doors and followed out into the surrounding woods. _Woods. How stereotypical. _I felt like I was in a movie.

"_Night Doll, Night Doll," _she sang, saying it like a curse word. "Where's your mommy now, little child? Can't stand the daylight?"

"_Nathan!"_ someone shrieked. It was Ella, I could tell. She tossed me something. I grabbed it. It was the hilt of a sword, the edges jagged as if the blade had been broken off.

"What good will that piece of crap do him?" someone else argued. Probably Karson. "It's a _piece of crap_!"

Ella laughed. "_Night Doll, Night Doll," _she sang. "Where art thou?"

My fingers tingled. Bits of shadow ripped off from under trees and bushes, even my own hardening around the toothed edge. A broad sword was in my hands in a matter of moments, black as...well...night. The core was hard, but bits of darkness flickered like mist.

"_What_ was that about a 'piece of crap'?" asked Ella playfully.

I laughed as I ran.

"Children, children!" the woman sang. "Such fun, such fun. Food for me!" Bells again.

"She's going to _eat_ us?" Karson howled.

"Lamia," muttered Ella.

"Lamia, Lamia!" she sang, taunting us. "Names are powerful things. Don't take mine too lightly." And inky black shadow flung from Ella's fingertips, sticking in a tree from where the voice had been moments earlier. Bells again.

She cursed cheerfully. Karson did too, but not as cheerfully.

Then Lamia stopped. We were far from school, but not far enough to be totally out of breathe. "No, I can eat you without that bothersome girl interrupting."

"I'm not bothersome," Ella said indignantly.

Karson slapped her upside the head. "I don't think she was talking about either of us."

Lamia put her hand to her head. "That evil child, hurting me. Hurting me. Her own _sister,"_ she spat, spit flying from her mouth, her lovely face twisted. "Can you believe that?"

"You're an evil, child-eating vampire," I reasoned. "So yeah, actually. I kind of can."

She sniffed. "How could I have expected sympathy from a thing of the _night?_" she hissed. "But you," she said, suddenly next to Karson, cupping her face with her clawed hands, her voice suddenly honey sweet. "You're a wonderful child of the sun. Of music, poetry, of _wonder." _She laughed, bells ringing, but they were haunting anymore.

Karson's eyes were dull for the first time, like she was looking into the distance, the future, maybe.

I swung my sword; shadow hard, darkness hissing through the air. She hissed, screeching, actually, her clawed hand thudding onto the ground, severed. Karson grimaced, her eyes alert again.

"Monster! Thing of darkness, thing of _evil. Evil Child. Night Doll._ What a wretched thing."

"Talk about calling the kettle black," said Ella happily. Karson looked at her. "What?" she said, defensive. "We were reading _The Diary of Anne Frank. _It's totally weird."

"Shut up," Karson sighed. "Don't you have some shadow sword or something?"

She shook her head. "That's harder than it looks you know. If I tried I would be too tired to swing it."

Lamia wailed. She jumped at me, claws extending, her face contorted in rage, blood flying from her arm, splattering me. I swung again, jumping away, cutting a nail or two in half. "_Night Doll," _she sang. "_Night Doll. Night Doll!" _she cackled.

"Oh, shut up already," a voice said. A flash of something that shimmered cut through from the trees.

Lamia screeched. And arm and a leg hit the ground around, her long dress, writhing like her hair, cut through. She fell, blood pouring from her side. "_Witch. Water Toy," _she mocked.

Someone stepped out from the clearing. _Cass._ "Like I haven't heard that before." A small clump of pure water floated above her upturned palm.

"You wouldn't hurt your sister? Your own flesh and blood?" Lamia sang.

"I would when she was a child-eating _bitch_." Cass sniffed. "Besides. I've never been very family oriented." She twitched her fingers. The water, now thin and razor sharp, cut across the monsters body. With a wail she burst into water, leaving behind her three limbs.

"Ick," Cass commented, turned. "Oh..." she said, surprised. MY sword was at her throat. I wasn't smiling anymore.

"What _are_ you?"

"Apparently I'm a _Water Toy_. What about you?" she asked, backup as I took a step forward, but her face was calm, smiling, like we were sitting in pre cal talking about curses. "_Night Doll._ Is that alluding to your heritage?"

"Maybe," I said. "I should have guessed. Why didn't I figure it out?" I asked her.

She sighed, at though thinking about it. "Well, don't beat yourself up about it," she told me, cocky. "I'm _very_ good at my job, after all."

"And just what is that job of yours?" I questioned. She was now up against a tree, sword poised to kill her, angry Grace kid ready to do so, and she was just as happy as could be.

"I'm not here to kill you, just so you know."

"For all _I_ know, you're one of Kronos' stupid lackeys." I smiled wickedly. "You now what _my _job is?"

"Let me guess...getting rid of Kronos' stupid lackeys?" Cass said, actually laughing. "Your attention is better suited else ware."

"Really?"

She nodded. "Really." She tilted her head to the side as much as she could without cutting herself on the tip of my sword. "Haven't you wondered how six demigods, seven with Nico di Angelo, eight with myself, could live in one place without the place being Monster Central?"

I said nothing.

"That's all me. I'm a Cleaner. We get rid of monsters, pick up loose ends. This place was ordered to be a Monster-Free Zone."

"So, you take care of monsters?"

"Sometimes," she said slowly. "But that's technically not my division."

"And what _is _your division?" Ella cut in.

"I make sure no one knows we exist," she said simply. "I make sure mortals don't know about the monsters, and demigods don't know about _us. _In other words, I'm a—"

"Manipulator of the Mist," said Karson dryly.

Cass grinned. "Exactly." She laughed. "We get rid of those stupid lackeys too. Small world, huh?"

"Cassie?"

Everyone turned and looked as Nico stood by a clump of trees, Alan and Avalee at his back. I realized how it must look. Me, not smiling, pinning Cass Hart to a tree with a sword. It was a good thing he wasn't a mortal. I would be in a lot of trouble.

"That's why you looked familiar," he said breathlessly, like he had run from home to make it in time. "You were...from...the picture..." he said between pants.

"What picture?" Karson inquired.

"The one from camp," Cass explained. "With Annabeth...and Luke...and everyone else."

"Annabeth showed me. You were friends." Nico stood straight.

Cass nodded.

He paused. "Everyone thinks your dead."

"That was the plan." She looked at him sadly. "That was the plan..."

"I'm confused," Ella interjected.

"Join the club," I muttered.

"She went on a quest, a few years before the Titan War, spying on the enemy," Nico explained. "She never came back. They found blood everywhere, and her pack, and bits of clothing. Everyone figured that you had been found and tortured to death."

Cass took a deep breath and looked straight into his eyes. "That was the plan."

*_**Rixby's**_** doesn't exist, as far as I know. Don't bother googling it. If there actually is a Rixby's, that's not what I based it off of or anything.**

***I got Lamia from . Look her up if you want more info. Or just ask. :)**

***What do you think of Cass? I don't know about you, but I like her. Of course, I'm biased. :)**

**Review review review!!!!!**


	8. We Meet the Ninja's

**Haha! Finally! I'm back from Georgia! Woot woot! And just to prove how awesome I am, here is a chapter. Still in major need of a plot. MAJOR!!!!!!! :) Feel free to review comments and opinions as well as any ideas.**

**Next chapter will be either Karson, Nico, or Cass. What do you think?**

**Ella Grace, daughter of _________**

That time that Mr. Monroe had hit on me at work, Nathan was mad. That time that Natalie Coleman tried to ask him out in front of her Boyfriend of the Week, Nathan was mad. That time that Avalee flooded the bathroom of a restaurant, Nathan as mad.

Now, he was very mad. Very, very, very mad. And it was just as hilarious as the other times, only I was the only one that thought so. Everyone else was kind of freaked out. People have it in their heads that we Grace's never get mad. That is a...misconception. We do get mad. Well, not we as in me, but we as in people within our family in general. I don't get mad. I, however, am a special case. But some of us do. The only thing is that you can't tell when we're mad unless you are a Grace yourself. We just smile and laugh and talk to you as kindly as ever, only we try to make you as uncomfortable as possible. Or, when we're with our mothers' side of the family, we beat you into a pulp. So it really all depends.

Nathan was mad. But he had every right, I guess, when you think about it. Cass Hart lied. Majorly. To everybody. Even at camp, where they thought she was dead. Nathan had to protect his family, because he had that whole Big Brother thing going on. I appreciated it, really. But I thought he was over reacting. She had taken care of a nasty monster for us. That had to count for something. Didn't it?

"Wait!" David said when we got home, dragging her behind. "What is a...a...Lame..."

"Lamia," Nathan said instantly. "She's a monster."

"Well, she is now," Cass added.

David gave us a look. "I was keeping it simple for him," Nathan told her, seating her in a chair. "He's new at this...craziness."

"Well, if you keep it 'simple' he'll die the moment he steps into the real world. Simply doesn't cut it." Then she looked at him. "A lot of monsters that we fight nowadays used to be real people that were dealing with the ancient gods when they were a bit more prominent," she explained. "Lamia, known by some as the daughter of Poseidon or the granddaughter of Poseidon, was a princess a long time ago. But she also had an affair with Zeus."

'Then Hera found out," I added. "The goddess of marriage. She was not happy."

Cass laughed dryly. "Understatement of the year." She shook her head. "Hera killed all of Lamia's children in revenge, and Lamia went a little..."

"Insane, crazy, mad, woo hoo," I offered, making the twirling motion around my ear. "In other words, her screws were loose."

"Which has certain unpleasantness," Nathan added, smiling.

"She ate kids," Karson said simply.

"You know, alive." Cass made a face. "Nasty, if you ask me. I also heard she lured men to their death and then drank their blood." She made a choking noise. "So she's a vampiric cannibal. Oh joy."

"I heard Hera made her eat her children when she was still sane, and that's what did it," Alan said from the corner.

Cass sighed. "The gods can be vicious, that's for sure," she said sadly.

I liked her. She reminded me of the twins, in a way. Always knowing way more than you thought, and always way more than she said. It was strange, like you were always on your toes. I like it that way. Comfortable is boring. I did think Cass, however, was sorely mistaken if she thought we noisy people would leave her alone after dropping that one on us. Especially where we Angry Grace's were involved.

That was quite evident when dad got home from work and found his four children, Nico, Karson (confusion was obvious on her face, mixed in with anger and her usual scorn and spite), David (just getting over his flu and finally out of the usual quarantine) and Cass, whom he had obviously never met, sitting at the dinner table during school hours.

"Hello," he said politely, reaching to shake her hand. He smiled casually, his dark brown hair shuffled around from the wind outside; his dark blue eyes alight with kindness.

Cass shook her head, flashing Nathan the politest of looks before replying cheerfully, "I would shake your hand, only your charming son has tied them behind my back."

Dad flashed him a look, but he was used to strange things such as this one in which he had found himself, so it wasn't alarm. It was more...interest. "So you're one of those friends?" was all he said.

Cass grimaced. "I'm not entirely sure that's what I'd call it," Nathan said happily.

"Considering that you would still call me 'friend' after I told you he tied up my hands is rather suspect." She turned to him, eyebrows raised. "What exactly do you do in your spare time?"

"I feed the homeless."

"Do you tie their hands up, too?"

"It's not nearly as necessary."

I sighed. "You all are just like Nico and Karson. Or worse."

Nico turned bright pink around his ears, and Karson scowled. "Whatever."

"You know, I hate to break it to you, but that's not very flattering. 'Whatever' makes you sound angsty."

"Angsty?" she asked.

Avalee cleared her throat dramatically, but Alan, calm as always, beat her to the punch. "Angst: the feeling of dread, anxiety, or anguish."

"Basically, I'm calling you emo," I said, buttering a roll dad laid out a second before with a flourish. I sighed, almost as dramatically as Avalee, and went all mushy eyed. "No need to worry about revealing your strong, undying love to us. Our lips are sealed," I said, locking my lips with an invisible key for emphasis.

Karson scowled even more. "Undying love is vastly over rated."

"Strong, undying love," Cass said teasingly. "And passion."

"Over rated," Karson said again, repeating herself, but her cheeks were a bit too red.

"Ella, stop teasing them," David said, despite being close to crying holding back his laughter. "It's mean."

"But it's the truth!" I said insistently, reveling in the discomfort. It was hilarious. Almost as funny as Nathan being furious at Cass.

"You too," Nathan said to Cass, as she blew a strand of helplessly curly hair from her face. "You're a guest."

"Oh, and I feel so welcomed," she snorted, tugging at the bonds around her wrists. "I can feel the hospitality rolling off you in waves. Of course, politeness is my utmost top priority."

Nathan ignored her sarcasm. "Gods! Where did dad get this bread?" he said suddenly, shoving one in his mouth.

"Nice," Cass commented. "Very James Bond-esque."

"Couth," Karson added dryly.

He flapped his hand. "I have a great appreciation of the culinary arts."

"He bought it at Wal-Mart, idiot," Nico said, rolling his eyes. I found he was a lot more insulting after blushing. An unfortunate side effect. He shook his head. "Why the heck are we talking about bread!?"

"It's a very important part of the food pyramid," David said, taking one.

"Yeah, the very basis of health, aren't you Jane?" Karson said, looking at him. "Got enough butter on that roll?"

"Fats and sugars are a part of the food pyramid as well."

"You're a real health nut."

Nico looked like he wanted to scream. "I want to know why Cassie Hart--"

"Cass," she interrupted. "Cass, not Cassie."

"Whatever!" he shouted.

"Angst..."

"Shut up, Ella!" he scowled. "I want to know why you're...a whatchamacallit."

"Cleaner," she offered.

"Yes!" Nico said. "Why you faked your death. Why you're with this crazy company. Why you left at all. Normal people...no. Half-blood, even, they don't just do that!" he shouted. I'd never seen him really angry. Sure. Brooding, sullen, cynical...but never downright angry. Or concerned, or anything. "They don't leave their friends in the middle of a war! To go off and... and die! "

"Nico..." Karson said quietly.

"They don't!" he shouted. "I don't even know you! What about Annabeth?" he wanted to know. "What about your friends?" His voice rang in the sudden silence, even though our kitchen wasn't exactly ominous and echoic.

"Obviously, they got on well enough without me," Cass said coldly.

Nico looked at her expectantly. So did Karson, and Nathan, and David, and Alan and Avalee already knew, probably. Even I wanted to know.

"These monsters are a plague," she said after a moment. "We give mortals the cure."

"You feed them lies," Nathan said cheerfully. Mad, but cheerful, that's him.

"I keep them from getting hurt, like I did," she burst. "Like we all do."

"What could ever hurt you?" Alan asked innocently, looking like the picture of angelic-ness. He was really just nudging her along, I knew. Until she broke. Until we got what we wanted.

"Lot's of things," she said ruefully. "Lot's of stupid things."

"Like what?" Nathan said gently.

"Just stupid things."

"You are way too good at your job," I muttered. Stubborn, silent, scornful, scarily knowledgeable. That was Cassandra Hart. But she didn't hear me, or if she did she said nothing. Actually, she probably did hear, but she made no comment. She probably knew already.

"People die, people get hurt," she said slowly, watching her words. "People grieve, but some people, they don't get better. Things like monsters attacking anywhere near some mortals...it scars them for life. Most can't even see it, but they know something happened. The smarts ones know it was something terrible. I help them forget. I'm like emotional scar cream. I erase them, clean them, until you can't even remember it was ever there at all."

A noise came from outside the glass door. We all turned to look. Two people, one big and bulky, the other surprisingly small, were outside, coming towards us.

"Nathan," I warned, but he already knew. He dug something out of his pocket.

"Here," he said, tossing it to me. It was a knife, small, delicate. "Early Christmas gift."

"And I wanted a pink snuggie."

Nico grabbed his black sword, the one he always kept within reach. Avalee and Alan sat up on the sink, looking out the window. "Hurry," Alan said urgently. Avalee clapped her hands.

"Fun, fun!" she said, but I don't know if anyone else heard her.

"Quiet, Ava," Alan said.

"Quiet," she repeated, holding a finger to her lips, silencing herself.

Cass stayed in her chair, a clever smile playing on her lips, but it was hard to tell if she was happy to see these people or not. Probably a mixture of both. "Gods..."

"Hi!" I said, waving happily. I popped my head out the glass door first. Nathan pushed me the rest of the way out.

The small one, a girl, was wild. She was dressed in black leggings, lacy and the bottom, with a rocker t-shirt that looked like it had been splatter painted in neon colors, a black skirt hitting her mid-thigh. Her feet were bare. Her hair was black, tied into two braids behind her ears, low on her head, threaded with silky black ribbon that you could barely see, tied into a bow at the end, stark contrast with her outfit. Her face was heart shaped, her lips big, full, and her blue eyes sparkled against her dark caramel colored skin. "Ella! Nice to meet you!"

Cass muttered something about being direct, but it sounded like an insult.

The taller one, a boy, was much older, at least18 or 19, with a shaved head that was the color of bronze, big blue eyes like the girl, and much bigger than anyone of the eight people in the growing Grace fellowship, although I'm not sure Cass counted. He wore black pants and a white button up t-shirt, slightly wrinkled but not too badly, and his feet were bare as well.

"You know, I always pictured you...blacker," Nathan said happily. He obviously knew what was going on.

"We aren't ninjas," Cass muttered scornfully. "Lora, Toby, what are you doing? I told you to leave me be."

Lora looked at our house, her response distracted. "We were worried. We saw them tie you up." Oh. These must be other Cleaners...

Toby said nothing.

"I can handle them."

"Oh, yeah?" Lora challenged.

"I could get these off at any moment, you know," Cass said, smiling a bit.

"Oh, I know," Lora assured her. "Do they?"

Cass took a deep breath. "They do now."

"I knew," Nathan said absently. "I was kind of waiting for it, actually."

"Really?" Cass said spitefully. "I doubt it."

"Hey, I saw you cut up Lamia with a little spirit finger motion," he said, doing the spirit fingers himself. "I know you can get out of those."

Cass said nothing.

"Then why did you tie her up?" David asked. I laughed. "What? She might know, but obviously I'm no ninja."

"Obviously."

"I'm not a ninja!" Cass insisted.

"I know she can," said Nathan. "I'm just not sure how."

"In other words," Cass said. "He was trying to get me to do the spirit fingers again to see how it worked."

"Cunning," said Lora.

Toby said...nothing.

"All you had to do was ask," she said playfully.

"I asked you about why you became a Cleaner, and you lied," he pointed out. "Obviously, that didn't work."

"I didn't lie!" she said, indignant.

I flapped my hand. "Yeah, you gave a reason you became a Cleaner. You didn't tell us the main one though." I looked at her face. "We aren't stupid, you know." I laughed.

"I wish," Cass said below her breath. Then she sighed. "I'm a daughter of Poseidon, if that helps."

"No way!" Karson said in wonder. "Now way!"

"Wouldn't that make you the child of prophecy?" Nico asked, interested. He was, after all, a child of the Big Three himself.

Cass had on an ironic smile, like she had a joke poised on her lips but she was going to keep it to herself. "I am a year younger than Percy."

"And apparently Unclaimed," Nathan added.

Cass smiled sadly. "Yeah. When I left I was still in Hermes cabin, and after..." she sighed. "Well, it wasn't really worth claiming me, you know? I'm supposed to be dead. I don't exist."

"Then how do you know?" Karson asked. "You don't look like a daughter of Poseidon."

"I look like my mom more than my dad," she told us. "But...there were signs." She tugged on the bottom of her shirt, and I realized that the ropes we had tied had fallen to the ground, cut in two, a little soggy.

"Like, I don't know, breathing underwater, never getting wet unless she wants too, controlling the ocean like it was breathing," Lora rambled off. "Little things like that."

"Percy can't cut up a monster with nothing but water," David pointed out. "Not that I've heard of anyway."

Cass grimaced. "There are a lot of types of power out there. Percy is the type of person that overwhelms his opponent. He can't work with a crap load of material, which I can't. Not without, you know, fainting. Which would make it kind of useless," she sighed. "However, my control is much better. I can't make big storms without help from something, but I can make water sharper than a knife as easily as lifting my pinky." She laughed. "So it's kind of a trade off." Then she collected a little blob of water in her hand and made it into a little twister, just to prove she could.

"So, you don't use weapons?" I asked, because I hadn't seen her use one. When she touched her hand, they were calloused from work and general, but they didn't feel like the hands of a swordsman. At least, not one that used a weapon regularly.

"Water is far more convenient, when you think about."

"What if your in a dessert?" I asked, because I felt like being difficult.

"Why on earth," Cass asked with a smile. "Would the company send a daughter of Poseidon to the dessert? That's stupid."

"What if you get lost or something?"

She tilted her head to the side. "There's water everywhere. You just have to be creative enough to find it."

**Review. You guess have no idea how much I need this right now. :)**


	9. Ninjas vs Pirates vs Robots

**a.n. Who loves Nico? Zeus knows I do. So many boys. To bad they are all fictional...or are they?**

**Sorry this is so short! Like I said, I'm having problems and a major case of writers block, so this is sort of a filler. And I only got one review last time, so I'm suffering from lack of motivation.**

**Any way, enjoy!**

_**Nico di Angelo, son of Hades**_

I'm aggravated.

Really, _really _aggravated. My fatal flaw is holding grudges. Mix that with the customary Hate-the-World thing we children of Hades share, and you have a recipe for disaster. And, since I'm a demi-god, it has to be a big one. Because, as Cass pointed out, we have no knowledge of subtlety.

However, Cass is the reason I'm aggravated, so her input doesn't count.

Cass Hart.

A smart girl with a dry sense of humor and a clever disposition. It's always the smart ones you have to worry about.

Of course, I had all the time I needed to worry. After all, I was holed up in the Grace residence. Again. I had gone back to camp for a while, a brief escape. Too brief, if you ask me. Then again, three years could be "too brief" when you talk about a break from these crazy people.

And now, we have a new one thrown into the mix. And she is twice as scathing and equally as devious as the Grace's themselves. They have gotten along very nicely.

Toby, it seems, does not talk. _At all_. It's rather refreshing. And also a little creepy. Actually, a lot creepy. I haven't heard him say one word. Lora fill n the space though.

"He had some sort of traumatic incident when he was younger," she informed me. "I never had the nerve to ask what. Although, he probably wouldn't answer, would he? He's like that." And on and on she'd ramble.

Of course, it's hard for me to believe that she was involved in the same thing as Cass, these "Cleaners" just because she talks so much.

"We're in completely separate divisions, duh," she told me when I asked. "Cass is totally kick butt, but they don't let her do the actual fighting because her powers are so recognizable. So she gets stuck doing the boring stuff," she explained, pausing. "It's like, becoming a policeman after watching those TV shows and then getting a desk job. It totally sucks."

"Sure it does," I said absently, thinking.

"Actually, she took it way better than I thought she would. I mean, I would absolutely hate to have to actually modify the mortals mind. Seems so dirty, you know?" I wondered when she would stop to breath. "Plus, Cass is so _restless,_ has been ever since she came to our group. Even before that, if what I heard is correct."

I began to pay more attention. "What did you hear?"

She smiled impishly, like she was thinking of some gossip she had been holding in. "_I _heard that she, like, beat our trainer into a pulp so she could get out of training. Totally clobbered him."

"Don't the gods run this...thing?" asked Karson, walking over and sitting down at the kitchen table. Ella, David, Cass, Nathan, and the twins were sitting in the living room, talking about something in low voices that I couldn't hear. Toby was sitting in the corner. She set down a plate of cookies. "It's so boring in there," she told me, rolling her eyes. "I know the Grace's are like a circus group, but it's sort of scary when they are all serious."

I listened for a second to their conversation. "Especially when they are serious about ninjas versus pirates versus robots."

"Well," started Lora again, taking a cookie and totally ignoring our side conversation. "I mean, the gods can't just train us you know. They have, like...godly duties and stuff. It's the old Cleaners that take care of the training and management and junk like that. I mean, when you have a huge group of delinquents and outcasts, things can sort of get rough." She took a bite.

"Outcasts?" Karson said skeptically.

"She says _delinquents_ and you are worried about outcasts? What kind of twisted sense does that make?" I asked. She just scowled.

Awkward silence.

One that Lora felt the need to fill. "Sure!" she said after she chewed her bite of chocolate chip cookie. "I mean, all of us got cornered into this stuff somehow. It's not like anyone would want to be a part of all this crap and junk. Well, no _sane_ person. I guess it would be totally logical to a crazy person." That's when I remembered Lora had ADHD.

"Um, delinquents?" I tried.

"Oh, right!" she said suddenly. "Toby was all silent and weird, so no one really talked to him where he lived. I was all depressed after my best friend died and then I went all suicidal. That wasn't such a good idea, you know?" Karson took the breath to make some no doubt sardonic retort, but Lora quickly picked up where she had left off. Obviously, that question was rhetorical.

"Um...Becky was the last survivor of a raid from Kronos' lackeys (we took care of them), Sebastian...well, he fell in a ditch..." Lora shook her head. "Oh, and Cass. Her sister was kidnapped by that girl she was spying with."

There was silence for the first time since she had started talking.

"Um..." I said smartly.

"I think you should elaborate..." Karson said finally, looking at me uncertainly. I knew what she meant. In the few hours we had known her, I never thought we would be asking her to talk.

"Do you now?" Lora asked, beetle back eyes glittering. "It's a thrilling tale, but..."

"If you want to tell, just friggin' tell us," Karson said heatedly.

I laughed. "Man, you have such bad language. We should wash out your mouth with soap."

"Or, we could stick you on the roof in the middle of winter again. I'm sure Ella and Nathan would be thrilled if you asked them," she snapped back. "Didn't you end up in a tree?"

I huffed.

"First a bush, then a tree...what's next? Actually, don't answer that. I don't want to know what's next." She smiled at me sweetly.

I stared at her. "Ella really is rubbing off," I told her. She stopped smiling. And that was the end of _that_ conversation. I'm proud to say I won.

Lora looked at us knowingly, but I tried not to think about it. With people like Lora and Cass and Ella and Nathan, not to mention Alan and Avalee, I've learned that not thinking about certain things makes life so much easier.

Then she took a deep breath. "You know, when Cass was on that spy thing in Kronos' army, when she 'died'?" she paused, and we both nodded. "The organization had been hounding her for ages, trying to get her to join. She said no every time. But, see, she went with this other girl. I think her name was...um...it started with a _P_...Panthea, that's it! Anyway, this other girl, Thea, she was a spy too. Awesome at it, I heard. But she totally betrayed the camp, completely. She told Kronos about Cass, and then ditched her. Left her to _die_, that...that...poop pillow." I tried to hold back a smile. "Then, before Cass had to run, she confronted Thea. Planned to beat her up, you know? Perfectly logical, I guess. Anyway, she couldn't. Cass had..._has_ this half-sister, on her mortal moms side. Her name is Lieve." She knit her eyebrows, thinking. "I don't think she is mortal though, I just know she isn't a child of the Big Three. But she was really young, so Thea just snatched her up and used her as a hostage," Lora said, shaking her head. "Every once in a while, Cass gets a message from that girl, and she goes completely nuts. I understand, though. Kronos' army chased her for three days because of her."

"Wait," Karson said. "Three days? How old was she?" She looked at me.

Lora thought some more. "Let's see...it was around the time that you and your sister were found, but it was before those four campers went into the Labyrinth."

"So, three to four years ago," I decided.

"About then, yes," Lora agreed.

"Cass is a junior now, isn't she Nico?" Karson asked me quietly.

I nodded. "That means she was in seventh or eighth grade when she 'died'."

"Well...that's not so bad, I suppose."

Lora snorted. "Running in the forest is bad when you're being chased by ten blood thirsty monsters after you find out your sister is being held hostage by a psychotic idiot on the run and you have no supplies."

Touché.

Then Lora got up and stretched like a cat, the neon splatter paint on her shirt blinding. She played with one of her pigtails. "Do you have Pepsi?" she asked me as she made her way to the refrigerator.

"Um..." I said, a little confused at the change of subject. "They're more of Coke people..."

"Excellent," Lora squeaked taking out a glass bottle labeled _Coca-Cola_. "I've been living off of Pepsi for the past two weeks. It's a little too sweet for me, you know?"

We stared at her in disbelief.

"Gosh, Nathan! Get over it!" Cass yelled from the room.

"Okay, technically, you _are_ a ninja," he told her.

"Am not."

"Are too."

"As long as you aren't robots, I cool with whatever," David said.

"Okay, pirates would totally win in a battle between them and ninjas and robots." Ella informed them.

"I'm going to go with robots," said Avalee.

"But all you would need in some sort of jamming signal and they would be big old trash cans," Alan pointed out. "Ninjas."

"Why?" Avalee demanded.

"Pirates are so...showy. They don't know a thing about surprise attacks."

"Surprise attacks are dirty and cowardly," Ella said.

"You can't be cowardly in a fight," Cass said. "As long as you win."

"You must be a great Little League coach," Nathan told her. "'It's okay if you beat them up, just win!' They'll be recruiting you any day now."

"Shut up Grace."

"Make me, Hart."

"Ah, young love," Lora said in a dreamy voice.

And then, Karson quoted what Nathan had said the day she realized what the Grace's were. "I sense the beginnings of a beautiful friendship."

***Cass's sisters name is pronounced LEE-veh, if anyone was having trouble.**

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	10. So the Second Act Begins

**a.n. So, I thought I would try someone different today. David! He hasn't gotten a very big part so far. No mysteries at all. I love secrets. In case you haven't noticed. ;)**

**REVIEW!**

**All that is left to pov is ALAN and AVALEE, I think. Do you want one of them? Which one? Or do you want someone I've already done? Tell me! :) Enjoy.**

**_David Jane, Undetermined_**

This is so confusing. They monsters, the random (and probably half insane) additions of Lora and Cass, and the complete silence of Toby that is almost as scary as the monsters are all so bewildering. And even worse, Ella and Karson have been enlightening me in little chunks. ("We have to give it to you in little pieces, so you don't go crazy. We're doing you a favor.") So all of this had only been partially explain to me.

And now _this!_

"You suck."

"Yeah, I know."

We were in the clearing where Karson and Ella had first found Nico. It was us three, and Cass, all sitting on the ground. Cass was making water bubbles in the air from the glass of water by her hands like someone would blow bubbles from a wand. Karson was leaning against the tree beside us, and Ella was sitting Indian-style on the earth, surprisingly upright. Or maybe that was just the way I saw from where I was. I was lying on the ground, panting and sweaty, and, I'm pretty sure, dying.

"You're a wimp," said Karson, glaring at me.

"And you are a terrible teacher," Ella pointed out, patting my head like I was a puppy. "He's never been taught sword fighting. You can't seriously expect him to get a hit at you."

"I'm an archer. Not a swordsman."

"Well, you're more of a swordsman than _he _is. The most athletic he's done is track and field."

"Then he should have better stamina."

"You've been going at it for three _hours_, you idiot," Ella said absently, opening her mouth wide until Cass made a little bubble float in to her mouth. "I feel like an astronaut. Thank you for making my dreams come true."

"Just go to Disney World next time," Cass muttered to her.

"Space Mountain!"

"Oh, I love that ride!" Cass exclaimed.

"Who doesn't?"

"Guys!" I hissed. "Why am I even doing this?"

"Duh," Ella told me, putting her index finer in the middle of my forehead. Ella's hands are always freezing, but now I was glad. "So you don't die. We would all be sad. Monsters are cruel. They'd eat you even if you _did_ know how to fight. Twice as much if you didn't."

"Believe me," Cass assured me. "I kill them for a living."

"I'm amazed you haven't been beheaded or eating or disemboweled or—"

"Something equally horrendous," Karson finished for her.

"Right," Ella said happily.

"When you say things like that with a happy voice, it makes my stomach churn," Karson informed her.

"Anyway, Cass, do you want to try?" Ella asked, standing. "Teaching him, I mean."

She yawned. I envied her. "Nope," she said. "I'm no good with a sword. At least, not good enough to teach someone. Once he masters that, I'll have a go."

Ella did some stretches.

"Can't we stop?" I asked.

She giggled. "Nope."

My leg fell asleep from laying on it the wrong way. I was jealous of my leg. I sighed audibly.

"Okay, okay," she said. "I'll give you a...condition." She got that look in her eye, and I was afraid for my life. "One hit," she told me.

"What?" I was so confused. _Story of my new life. Confusion._

"You hit me _one_ time, just one, and then we will stop," Ella told me, pointing to herself. "It's not a hard concept."

I wish I could have looked up triumphantly and exclaimed, "Easy enough!" like they do in all of the Disney movies. But Hercules had never seen Ella with a sword in her hand and that look in her eye. I was even _more _afraid for my life now that she had a weapon.

But...sleep. How could I refuse?

And so we continued.

Karson cheered me on, and the nasty look on her face made me wonder what she was imagining, and Cass just looked at me with a casual interested, like someone would look at a stranger on the street. She made no comment or sound, just looked at us.

Soon enough, night was falling. Ella had been getting stronger ever since it had begun getting dark. I wondered half-heartedly who her mom was. It should have been obvious. From the conversation I had overheard between Nathan and Cass the night before, she had already figured it out. _And_ the twin's parents.

But I tried not to think about it. Because that got me started on my mom, and then I felt even worse.

I was right. No way I could ever get a hit at Ella. We went for another hour and a half, with short breaks here and there, but I couldn't get at her.

I lay on the ground with her sword at my throat.

"Sorry," I told her sheepishly when she held out her hand to help me up. I took it. I didn't think I could move any more.

"It's okay," Ella assured me, flapping her hand. "You had been going for a while before we even started, so that wasn't fair at al. and then...well, I've had a sword in my hand since I was little."

"You're amazing," I told her, blushing a bit. I hate it how I do that. Cass nodded in agreement, but it was slow and kind of lazy. She was reading a _Harry Potter_ book, the first one, I think, so I was amazed she could think about two things at once.

"You should see Nathan."

"Is he good?"

"You know that huge gap between you and me?" she asked smiling, and I reddened, but nodded. No denying it, really. She knew. "Well, that's the gap between me and him. Only then, I'm on the bottom."

"That's..."

"Amazing," she finished for me. She stopped for a minute. "We'll start tomorrow fresh after lunch."

"Hey, girls?" Nico was standing behind the tree Karson had been leaning against, walking towards them from the house. Karson jumped a bit, and Ella and Cass shot her a knowing look. She ignored it.

He looked at me, all sweaty and panting. "How'd it go?" he asked, smiling. I hadn't talked to Nico that much. He scared me a bit, I won't lie. Children of Hades tend to do that. But he was nice enough. To people he liked, at least.

"Peachy," I told him dryly.

He laughed a little. "Um..." he started, suddenly solemn. "Cass?" She looked up at him from her stop on the floor. "You...have a letter."

She sighed. "Curly writing? Green ink? No return address?" He nodded to each one.

"Hand written on old yellowing paper," he added, handing it to her.

"Who told you?" she asked, stony faced.

"Lora," Nico admitted sheepishly. "She...likes to talk. She let it slip."

"A lot," Karson agreed under her breath.

Cass blew out her cheeks. "Yes, indeed. But she only tells you what she thinks you need to hear. She never slips. She says exactly what she means too." She sighed. "I'll kill her. Or cut off her braid in the middle of the night or something equally devious."

"Like the Sour Patch Kid from that commercial!" Ella said enthusiastically. I could tell she was just as lost as I was.

Cass held out her hand to take with another sigh, and Nico put it gingerly in her open palm like he was afraid it was going to explode. Or maybe he was afraid Cass would explode. All I knew, something was going to explode.

She opened it without a moment's hesitation. When she did, another whiter letter fell from the envelope. She ignored it, didn't even give it a glance. I picked it up.

While she read it, Cass took a series of deep breaths, like she was trying not to rip it to shreds. "Who is that from?" she asked quietly, meaning the letter I held in my hands.

"Oh!" I said with a jerk, because I was in my own little world for a moment their. "Um..." I reddened. "I can't read it."

"Oh, right," Cass said. "Dyslexia." She held out her hand again. I suddenly understood why Nico had been so careful. She felt like she was barely keeping herself in check. "Mine is pretty mild," she informed us. "I don't have much trouble."

"Guess that's a good thing for you," Nico muttered, eyeing the _Harry Potter _book with distaste.

Karson peeped over Cass's shoulder at the letter, squinting at the letters printed neatly in the signature at the bottom of the note, written in squiggly writing that made my head spin. She cupped one hand around her lips and mouthed _Camp._

Heck. Like I understood.

Cass suddenly stood, right at that moment, and Karson squeaked in surprise, probably afraid that Cass had a problem with reading over her shoulder and was getting ready to pulverize her. Instead, she looked at Nico. "Nathan and Lora and Toby are all at the house right now, right?"

"I think Toby's is taking a nap..." he started. "But yes, they are all there."

Then she ran off in such a hurry that she forgot the yellowed, green-inked, hand written letter on the ground where she had discarded it. I was the only one who noticed. Karson and Ella both leaped up. "You know, you really are a terrible teacher," Ella said happily to Karson, her voice echoing back behind her. Karson said something I couldn't recognize, maybe Greek. From the way Ella laughed afterwards, I doubt they were compliments.

I leaned against a tree and slid down until my butt touched the ground. "My legs feel like jelly."

"It'll get easier," Nico assured me, taking Karson's spot and the foot of another tree. "After, you know, a long time."

"You use a sword too?"

"Yep," he nodded. "But it's not made of celestial bronze, like the others."

"Who taught you? Ella said you were good."

"I did. In the Underworld." He didn't elaborate. I didn't make him.

"What is it like there?" I asked. I had been curious for a while.

"Black. Gloomy. Full of despair." He laughed a little. "Great place for a honeymoon."

"And you lived there? Alone?"

"Well, I had a couple of ghosts to keep me company," he said. "I was in the presence of King Minos for a while. _That_ didn't end too well."

I raised my eyebrows in a silent question.

"We were going to kill someone to get payment to bring my sister back to life. But he wanted to use it to give himself a body again. He had me totally twisted. Made me hate a good friend of mine even more than I already did. Of course, it wasn't too hard. I hated the world back then. Making me hate someone in particular was sickeningly easy." Then he told me the whole story, about him and the king and Percy. And the prophecy.

"Sister?" I asked after a brief hesitation. I wasn't sure if I had gone too far.

He nodded sadly. "Two years older than me. Soon as we found out about the gods, she joined the Hunters of Artemis and left me, so I thought. She was killed when she went on a quest to save her mistress."

"Do you...you know. See her? Being a son of Hades and all."

"Sometimes," Nico admitted. "I'm not stupid enough to try bringing her back to life anymore." He paused. "What about you? It's not fair if I'm the only one telling secrets. What about your dad?"

"Hmm?" I asked, not really paying attention. Then I realized what he had said. "Oh. He's dead."

Nico stared at me like I was losing my mind. "You said that awfully fast."

"Well, he is. What do you want me to say?"

"That's fine. But you seem a little...cold. You know?"

"Hah!" I exclaimed. "This from the _King of Ghosts? _Oh the irony." I tucked my knees up under my chin. He died a long time ago. I was eight or nine, maybe even ten. I honestly never cared."

"That's kind of sad."

I laughed a little. "I didn't. Dad was horrible. Adam said that he was great, one of the nicest people ever, around the time that I had been born. Then dad's girlfriend left him. Adam's mother, even though they hadn't been married. I always assumed she had been my mom too. Guess I was wrong."

I took a deep breath. "Dad got drunk one night, came home and was gone, just like that. Ever since then, he hated our guts, 'cause we were just terrible memories. Reminders of a life he would never have again. He just gave up on being a father. He'd hit us and get drunk and we'd end up taking care of him. He died of an overdose." I leaned back against the tree again. "I was amazed at his funeral. Hardly anyone was there, and not one person cried."

"That...that is terrible," Nico said sincerely. "Now you live with your brother?"

"We had an aunt. Aunt Erma. As soon as he got out of college, Adam came back to get me."

We both sat there for a minute. Suddenly I groaned. "This is killing me."

"What? My presence? I'm not that scary."

"No!" I shouted. Then I whispered, in case Lora or Toby or even Cass was lurking in the shadows, just watching us. "The letter. The one she left."

Nico put two and two together. "Ah!" he shouted. "I didn't even see that!" He reached over and grabbed it.

"You can't read it!" I said, trying to grab it. He was standing now, holding it out of my reach. I was too tired to stand.

"Like you don't want to."

"She'll eat you."

"Cass is a lot of thing. Cannibal isn't on of them." He unrolled the letter, cleared his voice dramatically, and started reading out loud.

"Don't you have dyslexia too?" I questioned before he got too far.

"Ancient Greek isn't too bad," he said, flipping over the paper, which was marked with all sorts of words I had never seen. For a language, it looked like a two-year-old had made it up.

He started reading again.

_Dear Cassandra,_

_ Long time, no see! Did you miss me? Did you miss Lee? Of course you did. You're a wonderful sister, after all. Mostly. You would have found her by now if you were trying hard enough though. Lee doesn't even remember you exist anymore. Isn't that sad? When I realized this, I practically cried. Or I would have, if I could anymore. I think I've forgotten how. That almost made me cry even more._

_ How are the Cleaners? Lora? Toby? I heard Sebastian fell in a ditch. How did that work out? I imagine your time with them is coming to a close. I hear you are still out there looking for us, little Lee and me. It hasn't been working. You'd been amazed if you saw her. She looks exactly like you, practically. Her coloring is a bit different though._

_ I guess you haven't been to camp in a while. After all, you don't exist. What a sad non-existence. It's like you are nothing. That's enough to make a person cry themselves to sleep. Or a normal person. But we've never been normal, have we Cass? Too much alike. We were such a good team. Feel free to join me at any time. We'd love to have you._

_ Oh! By the way, I "found" a very important letter for you. I put it in the envelope. I expect I'll see you soon. Take care. Don't get yourself first act has ended.  
_

_ And so the second act begins._

_Much love,_

_Thea_

**Did you love it? Did you hate it? Be sure to refer to the question poised at the top of this chapter. I happen to be in dire need of plot ideas and such. A girl can only have so many fillers. I have a basic idea for the next chapter. **

**Okay!**

**ALAN GRACE**

**AVALEE GRACE**

**ELLA GRACE**

**NATHAN GRACE**

**DAVID JANE**

**NICO DI ANGELO**

**CASS HART**

**KARSON MAVERICK**

**OR SOMEONE TOTALLY DIFFERENT???**

**REVIEW!**


	11. How Idiots Play the Game

**a.n. Okay. So, here is the tally.**

**Lora- 1 (you rock!)**

**Ella- 1**

**Karson- 1 (haha Callie.)**

**Nico- 3!**

**So, for my readers that can't count, that means Nico wins!**

**There will be a special guest (or two) and finally: The reveal of Ella and Nathan's mysterious (or not so much) mother. Much love.**

**_Nico di Angelo, son of Hades_**

If Cass scared me before, I am now terrified. Which makes me look like a strawberry. But whomever it was who said, _"Hell hath no fury like a woman's scorn," _is pretty darn good. I prefer my own version. _Hell hath no fury like a deranged daughter of Poseidon's scorn._ Or maybe its just Cass. Either way, I've pretty much just hit the nail on the head. Not even daddy dearest could think of a punishment worse than the kind of thing Cass was willing to dish out.

I found this out when I got to the Grace residence.

"No."

"No?" Cass screamed. She was completely unhinged.

"No," said the first person casually. Nathan.

"Are you kidding me? We have to go!"

"Correction!" Nathan said, pointing at her. "_You_ have to go."

Cass was about to bite of his index finger. Ouch.

"Go where?" David asked, walking behind me, huffing and sweaty. "You walk fast."

"You walk slow," I informed him.

"Miss Hart seems to have an appointment at Camp Half-blood," Nathan told us, smiling cheerfully as though there was not a glowering girl willing to rip his head from the rest of his body standing in front of him. This did not seem to bother him in the least. In fact, he was making dinner. Which I would have been upset about if I hadn't realized what great cooks his family was. Except Ella. Her food all tasted the same. Either like Chinese take-out, or like a cooked sock.

"It isn't an appointment," she insisted. "It's a summons."

"Right," Nathan said, correcting himself. "She has been 'summoned' by the great gods of Olympus to go and play volleyball and beat up dummies."

"Do you not understand what this means, you idiot?"

"Sure." He stirred the soup. "It means that you won't be a Cleaner for much longer."

Lora, suddenly beside me, whispered to me. "We don't go to camp. Too many people that might notice us. Unless, that is, you are getting released. Doesn't happen too often. People usually die before it gets that far."

I gulped. "Fantastic."

"But you know what _you_ don't understand?" Nathan started again. Stir. Stir. "It says _you_. Not me. Not Ella, or the twins, or Nico, or David. _You_."

"But—"

"Get it through that water-filled head of yours," he told her calmly, smiling. "We aren't going."

"What if I told you I needed your help?" she said slowly.

Then it clicked.

Cass. She joined the Cleaners so that she could find her sister. Personally, I don't see the logic in that. But, if she got kicked out, she would need another way. Cass planned on searching for Thea and her sister right after she left camp. And she was still sane enough to realize she needed help.

Idiot.

"Well," Nathan started, just as slowly. "I expect my response would be much the same." He took the pot off of the burner. "Who wants soup?"

"Oh! What kind?" asked Ella, her hair now wet and tied up into a ponytail after a shower. Karson changed into a black t-shirt and jeans instead of her sweaty training clothes.

"You all are crazy!" Cass exclaimed.

"Cass..." Lora said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Cass shrugged it off. "I'm going to my apartment. Call me if you change your mind." She left.

"She lives in an apartment?" David asked, still huffing.

Lora nodded. Toby said...nothing.

"It is about ten or fifteen minutes away from here," Lora told them.

Avalee hopped over and smelled David. "Ick. You need a bath. With bubbles."

"And a gallon of perfume," Ella told him, tweaking his nose as she passed into the kitchen. He went red.

"No need to tease him," Alan scolded, which was funny. I still could get that image of Chiron as a baby out of my head. He pushed on David's back. "You can use dad's bathroom. He'll be home late today anyway."

"Um...thanks..."

"What about clothes?" Lora asked pointedly, looking at Nathan.

He sighed. "I guess my closet is the new Goodwill." He threw down the rag he had been using to clean off the kitchen table. "I'm on it," he said, jumping over the couch.

"Show off," Karson muttered. "You read the letter, didn't you?" she whispered in my ear.

I could feel me ear get hot. "Of course not."

"You know, for a son of the god of death and all, you are a terrible liar. You're ears turn red."

_Well, it's never happened before._

"Yeah..."

"What'd it say?"

"You remember what Lora told us about Cass's sister, and the kidnapper, that Thea girl?" Karson nodded, and I spilled the entire contents of the letter as I remembered it. I was still pretty fresh.

"If that's true, then Thea has to be close, right?"

"Wrong!"

I flinched, and Karson yelped a bit. Lora was suddenly next to us. Again. How does she do that?

"Thea is a daughter of Angelia," she told us, feeling superior, no doubt. "The spirit of tidings, messages, and proclamations."

"I thought Hermes took over the mail of the gods," I asked. I'd never heard of Angelia.

"She's is, like, totally minor. Hardly anything on her." Lora blew a bubble out of the gum she was smacking. The intense smell of _Double Bubble_ filled the surrounding area.

"What do you expect as the goddess of mailmen?" I asked.

"They only sent out Undetermined kids to see Kronos. Cleaners were trying to pick her up too. It was obviously a lost cause."

"Do you have any idea why she took Lieve?" Karson asked, her eyebrow creased.

"I've been wondering, too," Lora confided. "I have tried asking her about it, but Cass is as easy to question as a clam. Maybe even less so. She just goes stone cold and gives you those freaky eyes." She looked as us, bug-eyed, like a psycho, trying to replicate it.

"That's attractive," said Ella, sitting over by us, sipping something from an oversized mug that might have been hot chocolate.

"But you have a theory, don't you?" I asked, suddenly sure of it.

"And if it has anything to do with the Mafia, or alien life forms, I will not hesitate to slap you silly," Karson said seriously.

I snorted a little.

She glared.

I laughed a lot.

Then she punched me.

I laughed a _lot. _Because her knuckles turned red and she rubbed her fist like it had hurt.

"How much do you bench-press?" she asked in awe.

"Told you he was buff!" Ella said from the kitchen.

"Anyway, back on topic," I said quickly, before anyone else could make a comment.

Lora finished giggling. "Sorry, sorry." She shook her head. "Anyway, for Cass this is just about her sister. I honestly don't she could give a crap about anyone else. But I think this is something kind of big."

"Like...?"

She pulled a map out of nowhere. There was a big, scribbled circle drawn in thick red marker pen. "The Cleaners from, Remi and Ronnie, we haven't had any word from them for the past three months. That's about when tons of monsters and suspected Kronos-followers started gathering in the middle. We've sent people there, but we got nothing."

"And what does this have to do with Thea?"

"About that..." Lora said, looking sheepish. "See...I know Thea."

"Like...how?"

"Like...best friend in elementary school."

Ella burst into song.

_"It's a small world after all!_

_ It's a small world after all!_

_ It's a small—"_

Karson punched her in the nose. "Shut up."

Ella pulled up her nose like she was looking for boogers in the mirror. "Am I bleeding?"

"No, but you need a tissue," I told her.

Lora took one out of nowhere. It's like she has some sort of void in her pocket.

"Yeah," she continued, as though Ella hadn't started singing and Karson hadn't punched her in the face. "We were both in Miss Little's class in third and fourth grade. Everyone thought we were weird."

"I couldn't imagine why," I muttered.

"I know, right?" Lora exclaimed. "Anyway...a couple of weeks after Cass became our partner those years ago and I first heard this tragedy, I called her grandma." She twisted a lose braid around her finger and tugged at the glistening black bow. "We keep in touch. She tells me all about what's going on. Thea still sends her emails and stuff."

"I never thought old people knew how to work computers," Ella thought aloud.

Karson and I wore identical looks of awe at Ella's comment. "Didn't think you'd end up ditsy."

"I've lived with it for years," Nathan called from the kitchen.

Could _everyone_ hear our conversation?

"You know old people. They always like to brag about their grandkids." Lora flushed a bit.

"Wait," Karson said, holding up a hand. "You've known where she's been this _whole_ time?"

Lora bit her big lower lip. "I wanted to tell her but...I always thought she would freak and demand to go there. Oppose the gods. Get herself smitten. Now that she is being let go, I can tell her...Besides," she said hesitantly. "Don't make me pretend I don't know what Cass has gotten into her head to do to Thea. She isn't going to let this slide. No freakin' way. I certainly ain't giving an old friend the death sentence."

******

I didn't waist any time, that's for sure. I didn't care about whether or not Nathan was going, but I new for sure that Ella would go, unless Nathan had a reason other than being stubborn. That meant Karson, and probably David. Lora and Toby would probably follow invisibly behind. The twins didn't seem to want to go, which was good. But somehow, I was getting there.

"O' goddess, accept my offering," I said, flicking a golden coin into the rainbow light reflecting from the light of a prism I always carried around. "Percy Jackson at Camp Half-blood."

The rainbow shimmered like water. Soon, Percy's face was as clear as though I were standing in front of him. I saw Annabeth in the background.

"Hey, Nico. How's is going with those crazy people?" he asked. He was a senior now, taller, more muscular. I guess that came with the invincibility.

"As crazy as ever. I heard you got kicked out of school again."

"Nope," he said proudly, and a little sheepishly too. "Just suspended. For a month...or two." Annabeth looked over out of the corner of her eye and rolled them at me. Percy attracted trouble. "It's not my fault my gym teacher grew like a gorilla and I had to chop of his head. It's do or die out there, you know."

"Yeah, I do actually." Annabeth laughed. "I went on all those quests, too. I saved you a few times, in case you forgot."

"How could I ever," he said. "Besides. I saved the world. So we're even."

"Whatever."

"So you two are the same as ever, then?" I asked, laughing.

"Mostly. Despite the whole incoming child of Ares that has gotten four other little kids to hate me with a passion."

"In other words," Annabeth snorted. "Percy now has a duel with a few eleven-year-olds."

"The one guy is thirteen."

"Well, if they haven't heard the stories about you, they should sit around the camp fire a bit more often," I pointed out.

"That's not the problem," Percy said, scratching the back of his head.

"Yeah. They're either too stupid to heed them or think they have a chance." Annabeth laughed. "It's true," she told Percy when he looked at her funny. "You don't see any Athena kids poking you in the back with a spear to see if you'll bleed."

"That happened?" I turned to see Nathan standing behind me, just inside the door, carrying a load of wash.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Dude, it's my room." He plopped the basket on the floor with a _thunk_. "You aren't an only child anymore, my friend. Welcome to the land of the common people."

"Right."

"Who are you?" Annabeth asked. "You look familiar."

"Eh. I have a common face." He grinned. "My name is Nathan Grace. A.k.a, Crazy Guy #1." He laughed at my face. "Oh yes. I heard. Hard not to, with all the muttering you do."

Annabeth seemed surprised, but Percy was smiling. "My name's Percy Jackson. This is Annabeth," he informed Nathan, jerking his thumb at her. "We've heard about you. And you're family."

"I can't imagine much of it's been good," Nathan grinned back.

"'Course not. We know all of your faults by heart. In alphabetical order. You're practically famous here at camp."

Nathan grimaced. "I sure hope not."

"Actually, I was about to talk to you about that," I interrupted, elbowing Nathan. "We might be heading up to camp soon."

"How soon?" Percy asked. Nathan scowled.

"_We?_" Annabeth asked.

"You better mean you and Cass. I already made it very clear I'm not going." Nathan smiled at me.

"You're being unreasonable."

"You're being stupid."

"Iris message is still up, guys," Percy said awkwardly.

"Yeah! I can hear it all the way up here!" I heard Rachel shouted somewhere behind them. They must have been at the Big House.

I ignored them. "Have you ever even _been_ there?"

"Yeah. Once. Ask her," he said reluctantly, pointing at Annabeth. "I was the idiot Undetermined that tried to stick a knife in Luke Castellan."

Annabeth pursed her lips. "That's what I thought."

_That's_ one story I hadn't heard. Then again, I never really knew Luke. When I came to camp his name was already taboo. And I didn't exactly stay too much after that. The only thing I could to say was, "I always knew you were an idiot."

Nathan rolled his eyes. "I found out about his...evilness, I guess. I tried to kill him. I failed. He knew I knew, and then I couldn't go back."

"But he's gone now."

Nathan laughed. "That camp is a lot like school. There is always some stupid kind of drama bubbling. Not all kids that end up at that camp are as good as you are, or any of us. They have sad stories about how their parents abandoned them. Kids that learn to kill when they're six." Annabeth turned a shade darker. Nathan's face wasn't smiling anymore, but he wasn't necessarily mad. It was simple, dry, like he was giving me what I needed to hear without sugar coating it. "Kids can be just as cruel as the gods can. You know that. No way in Hades am I letting family get into that mess. It's beyond help."

"What about Cass? Doesn't she need help?"

"Cass needs more help that she's letting on." He sighed, smiling faintly. "She's a revenge driven junior. I give her a week before she snaps. But you're right. You're all my family." He smiled. "I need an enchilada." Then he walked out.

"Am I the only that realized he never gave us a straight answer?" Percy asked.

"Be careful, Nico," Annabeth warned. "That certainly isn't his real reason. Well, at least not the biggest one."  
"How come I'm always the ones with the deep conversations?" I asked, sulking.

"It's because you're dark and brooding. It's draws sulky people in." Ella, David, and Karson were where Nathan had been moments ago.

"Did _everyone_ here?" Annabeth asked crossly.

"They were shouting," Karson told her. "Hard not to hear."

"Yeah, I think the whole camp heard." Percy laughed.

Ella introduced herself and David, who simply nodded and Karson waved hello to the two of them.

"Nathan truly is an idiot," Ella assured me. "He's so protective. He's just scared, in the long run."

"Of what?" I scoffed.

"Lot's of stuff. He used to be afraid of the color yellow."

"Food for thought," David said dryly.

"Mostly, it's Cass." Ella played with her hair. "She's being eaten."

Karson, Annabeth, Percy, and I all exchanged looks for the next minute or so. David seemed more comfortable with this statement than any of us.

"By...?" Karson asked.

"Thea. Duh," she said, taking a nut out of her pocket and cracking it in her fist. She ate the inside. "Thea knows how to play the game. Cass, well, she does too. But she isn't as good at it. She just needs a chill pill. Nathan's trying to play her back. He thinks if he refuses, maybe she won't leave. She will anyway, but it was worth a try, right?" She tossed a nut to me.

"What is this?"

"A walnut." She looked at me like I was stupid. I wasn't the one with walnuts in my pocket. "Plus," she said continuing. "He knows what's going to happen."

"Alan and Avalee," I muttered under my breath.

"That's the biggest thing. He's afraid of the future." Ella laughed. "So he's trying to keep it from happening."

"That's never going to w—" Annabeth started.

"Yeah, he knows," Ella interrupted. "He's going to start packing when everyone is asleep. Guess I will too. Alan and Avalee'll stay with dad, I guess."

"Won't you be sleeping?" I asked.

She pointed to herself, the very picture of innocence. "Me? No." She laughed. "We don't sleep. We run on, like, two hours of sleep."

"You're an insomniac?" Annabeth questioned.

"It's great at sleepovers." She winked. "Besides, I'm a daughter of Nyx. What'd you expect?"

"I knew it!" Karson shouted. "The mystery, solved! I'm so proud of myself."

"Why?" Ella asked. "I told you."

"Well, obviously, I broke you down."

David smiled a little at me, rolling his eyes at the two of them.

"Yes. I was like sand in the wind," she skipped outside. "Nathan, trouble!" she called calmly.

"Oh joy," David muttered. "More fun. I should write a book. _A Day in the Life of a Very Confused and Doubtful Demigod._"

"Bit of a mouthful, isn't it?" Percy commented. "I _still_ feel like that."

"Better go," I said, waving bye and slashing through the picture.

Ella was sitting on the back steps in front of a big snake that was a few yards away, hissing at her. At least, I think it was a snake. "Slingshot!" Nathan dropped it down from the second story window in Ella's room.

"Do you still have that walnut?" she asked me. She held her hand out flat, like she was a doctor waiting for a scalpel. Numbly, I handed it to her. I'd learned not to question the requests of the Grace kids. Doing so meant waking up from bed in strange places. She loaded it in the slingshot and it flew—straight and true—in the things beady eye. It wailed. "That was my last one," she said ruefully. She tweaked Karson's nose. "Told you I was a good shot." Lora tossed me my sword. "Go ahead," Ella told me.

"I haven't seen you fight since...ever." Karson laughed. "You scared."

"It's half blind," David reminded her.

"One-fourth blind, actually." Ella held up two fingers. "It's got two heads." The head she had hit was flailing around, while the other end turned and looked at her, two perfect beady eyes glaring at her.

"We wouldn't have had an issue if you let me do our job," Cass muttered, coming out.

"Oh, shush," Lora said, flapping one hand. "This'll be fun."

"Amphisbaena." Alan peeked out the door, Avalee stood behind Ella on the steps, her dress flouncing. "Formed from the dripping blood of Medusa's head."

"Ick." Lora stuck out her tongue and made gagging noises. David paled, but said nothing.

That stupid snake was _much_ bigger when you got close. It was sickeningly colored, like puked up _Jelly Belly_ jelly beans, all rainbow, slithering on the grass. It had fangs tinged with red blood.

It raised it's head, tongue flickering out at me. I jabbed at it experimentally. The head I aimed for writhed out of the way, and the head I hadn't snapped at my heels. Coldly, I cut it off. It's dying wail made me grimace.

"Go Nico!" Ella waved, like it was a basketball game.

I snapped. I took off another chunk of it's other side. Nasty blood like puss flew out of the wound.

I was just playing now. It wasn't fantastically strong, and I was kind of bored. And so it went: snap, chop, hiss, cop, snap, chop, chop.

The other head (the one with two good, unwalnuted eyes) hissed. Then, I could have sworn it smiled. An evil, toothy smile way more devious than anything Ella Grace could ever pull off.

Cass screamed. "Cut off the other head already, idiot."

Pain split my lower calf. "Ouch..." I said, looking down. The other snakehead was clamped on my leg. Its eye glowed like candles, or coals in a fire. I stabbed it in the face casually. I stuck the other head with my sword. It screamed, and them both heads died. "Looks like you've got to kill both."

"Nico!" Karson screamed. All I saw was dull _Jelly Belly _jelly beans.

Amphisbaena slithered around me in the ground. Circling their dead comrade. They looked at it for a second, then started feasting on the dead body. "Um..." I said slowly, backing away from the cannibalism. My leg gave. I thudded on the ground. It felt like my calf was on fire.

"Oh, yeah." Avalee giggled. "They were poisonous, weren't they? Oops."

...

I hate the Grace family.

"Since when do they travel in herds?" Lora asked Cass. She shrugged. Calmly, she sliced off two heads of the same Amphisbaena.

Ella hopped up. "On guard!" She snapped off a tree branch and waved it around. One laughed at her in a weird, snake way. She stabbed at it. Then, in two quick slices, she jumped, one foot landing on one head each. It hissed, but was pinned. She jumped up and down a little. There was a crunch. "Oopsie. That sounded important." she giggled evilly.

Karson rolled her eyes. "They're snakes, they can't talk back. You're witty banter is useless." She was sitting in a tree, a bow in her hand from nowhere, shooting two arrows at once, and hitting each head perfectly.

I jumped up, a little off balance with dizziness. I slashed and hacked and was a general tornado of carnage.

"The house'll overrun soon," Ella commented. She was right. There were about two hundred things writhing on the ground.

"Dad will be mad if he finds a snake in the toilet," Nathan pointed out. "Nico! Help me?" We stood back to back in the middle. Karson's arrows always hit their mark, whizzing past my face and hitting the heads between their eyes. I didn't even flinch.

"I wish I were that good," Nathan sighed in envy. He was plenty good anyway.

So good, that in minutes there were only two demon sakes left. Nathan sliced one, tip to tip, in a perfect line. I cut off ones head and stabbed the other behind the eyes. I was on my knees. My leg would hardly hold me anymore.

"You idiot!" Karson screamed, shaking my head with her hands. "You could have died."

"Technically, he could still die."

"You aren't helping, Ella."

"How many were there?" I asked groggily.

Alan and Avalee hopped over. They were shamefully clean while the rest were covered in monster guts.

"David: two," Avalee recited.

"Toby: ten." Alan sat next to her.

"Lora: twenty two."

"Ella: thirty six."

"Cass: fifty seven."

"Karson: fifty seven."

"Nathan: sixty four."

"Nico: sixty four."

Avalee pretended to count on her fingers. "So that was two hundred ninety two in all."

"And that," Nathan said, clapping my hand while Karson rolled up my pant leg to treat the bite. "Is how the idiots play the game."

**Did you love it? Did you hate it? Be sure to refer to the question poised at the top of this chapter. I happen to be in dire need of plot ideas and such. A girl can only have so many fillers. I have a basic idea for the next chapter. **

**Okay!**

**ALAN GRACE**

**AVALEE GRACE**

**ELLA GRACE**

**NATHAN GRACE**

**DAVID JANE**

**NICO DI ANGELO**

**CASS HART**

**KARSON MAVERICK**

**OR SOMEONE TOTALLY DIFFERENT???**

**p.s. Just so you know (in case you somehow didn't realize) I'm, like, really, totally bad and action scenes. That's why this story is severely lacking in that department.**

**REVIEW!**


	12. A Cure for Boredom and the Common Cold

a.n. No one told me who they wanted except for Callie...three times. So I'm just going to go with someone else to each her a lesson. :)

I liked the idea someone gave me of maybe doing a chapter (once they get to camp) in Percy, Annabeth, or Rachel's point of view. Tell me what you think.

_Lora, daughter of Cybele_

Congratulations, Cass. You know have an interesting adventure ahead of you. That's how these things always end. Otherwise, none of us would have taken our sweet time to write about something boring. Zeus knows I would have fallen asleep. It's strange when you think about all of the people who go on quests and come back without anything interesting to say or tell of show. If we recorded every person's adventures, how many would be worth reading? I'm sure plenty of people have died that never got recognition. A death doesn't make things exciting, but does that make their stories any less important?

Hmm...

Now I'm bored again. I have nothing left to rant about. I suppose I should start writing something you people actually care about then. 

Like food!

I like food.

Of course, as of now, we have much more pressing matters to attend to. 

Nico's leg had to be tended to, which put us a few hours off of schedule. He was stupid to let something like that bit him. Strangely he had no injuries from after when all of those nasty snake things began to swarm, which I find ironic. 

The setback put Cass in a foul mood. That girl needed to take a chill pill. I tried giving her a cookie, but she wouldn't take it. I gave it to Alan instead. He smiled. If only girls were that simple.

"What kind of cookie was that?" Ella asked.

"Snicker doodle."

She threw up her hands. "Dang flabbit! Those are my favorites. What kind of person only makes one cookie?"

"I thought your favorite was chocolate chip." Karson laughed at her "rival" from her spot in the corner. Maybe they were rivals once, but now they just seemed like the kind of friends that bicker all the time. Like an old couple.

"They are when _you_ make them. Gosh," Ella said.

Karson was sitting on the edge of the couch, Nico's injured leg in her lap. His pant leg was rolled up to show the bite.

Not only was in poisoned (there was this nasty green tinge to the stupid thing) but it was also puffy and bleeding. I am so glad I'm not expected to heal anyone. It would suck. I'm squeamish. I was about to puke just looking at it.

"_That_," I informed him, "is disgusting."

He shrugged. "I've dealt with worse." He tried to sit up from where he was laying down and Karson jabbed at the bite. He yelped.

"Don't move until I fix it," she hissed. 

"Or what?"

"Or I'll shoot you with an arrow and see you get up from _that."_

He bit his cheek. "That's not fair. I could take you out with a sword, or hand fighting."

"Which is why I would shoot you with an arrow." She rolled her eyes and pulled her blond hair out from her eyes. She wiped it with something from her bag and pulled a bandage. "Two days." She handed him a cup.

"Two days? Is that enough?" I asked, thinking of the green tinged mess.

"You doubt my prowess." She pressed the cup into his hand, saying firmly, "Two days."

"She cooked up the antidote a few minutes ago." Ella sat down on the floor. "I think she could cure the common cold."

Nico grimaced, looking at the stuff inside the cup, but he drank it anyway.

Karson said nothing, just watched as Nico drained the glass. She took the empty cup and went to the kitchen.

"How'd you meet her, anyway?" Nico asked Ella, and I nodded, tugging one braid the way I do when I think.

"School, like you meet most people," Ella said, stretching like a cat. She got up and walked over to the door when someone knocked on it. "Who is it?" she called in a singsong voice that made Karson, walking back into the room, cringe. 

"Lucas," the voice replied. Nathan poked his head out of his bedroom door at the base of the stairs and nodded at Ella to let him in, frowning slightly. Nico rolled down the leg of his pants to hide the bandage while Karson sat back down where she had when tending to him.

The guy standing in the doorway, shaking snow from his hair, was obviously a jock. It could not have been more obvious if he had been wearing a letter jacket. "Are you having a party or something?"

I laughed. I tried to remember what it would look like to someone who was normal. Toby, standing by the door like a body guard for the president, Nico lying on the couch next to Karson, Ella waving happily, Nathan in his room with his hair still wet from a shower, Cass pacing, and myself humming a song that no one had heard of. Then I remembered that there where a bunch of monster snake heads (most of which had been spoils of war) lying all over the backyard. I laughed until Cass punched me. I smiled up at her.

"Um...sort of. What are you doing over here?" Nathan asked, pulled a shirt on over his wet hair as he talked. 

"That project we are doing next month, when winter break is over, I was wondering if you want to start early so we didn't have to, you know, worry." He smiled at Karson.

She smiled back a little and said under her breath, "Which, translated loosely, means 'will you do all the work?'"

Nathan shoved a pair of glasses on his nose. "Sorry, I'm going somewhere today. Leaving."

"Oh. All of you?" Lucas looked at the seven of us and I snickered.

"Most of us," Nathan said, smiling that Grace smile, thinking about Alan and Avalee, I was sure. 

"Where to?" He sat of the arm of the couch Nico and Karson were sitting on.

"To Rhode Island," Nico told him, and the jock jumped liked he hadn't known he was there.

"Oh, are you still here?" Lucas asked, glaring.

"Yes," Nico said, glaring back.

"And you _will_ be for two days," Karson said firmly, glaring at them both.

"I don't like him," Lucas said loudly.

"Apparently," Karson muttered, rolling her eyes.

"He isn't trustworthy."

"At least I'm not asking a nerd to do my homework," Nico shot back, and Nathan smiled from where he was leaning against the doorway.

"Do you _want_ a fight?" Lucas demanded.

Nico thought about it. "Kind of. I could find someone better pretty quick though. Even now, when I can't feel my leg. I'd beat you."

Lucas moved toward him on the couch. Cass, Nathan, and Karson all moved toward him, but I was there faster. Ella sat on the steps, smiling eerily, and Nico didn't seem to mind.

I put my hand on his head and wove my fingers into his hair, pulling him down so his ear was near my mouth. "Hey, buddy," I said. "You see that guy, over there?" I pointed toward Toby in the corner. "He is my brother. And I don't think he would be happy if a friend on mine got beat up, not that you would be able to touch him at all anyway." I started rambling. "See, we have this thing with bullies. We don't like them. Actually," I lowered my voice. "We pummel idiots like you for a living."

Cass smiled.

I let go of his hair. He looked at me funny. I smiled like a two year old. Avalee would have been proud.

*****

A few hours later, Nico was sitting on the bench at the train station (which was absolutely ancient, thank you very much), Avalee and Alan on each side, their father standing in behind them all with a slight frown on his face. "Don't get hurt...too badly. At least try. I don't like this."

Nathan waved him off. "It'll be fine. It's camp."

"A camp you had to run away from to avoid being chopped to bits by a deranged son of Hermes," Ella added.

"Nice support there, sis. Thanks loads."

Cass seemed to be in a better mood now that we were ready to leave. "Are you sure you don't mind staying behind?" she asked Nico, her eyebrows slightly puckered with worry.

"Yeah," he assured her. "Even if I'm two days behind I'll still get there ahead of you."

"So arrogant," muttered Karson. 

"Little thing called _shadow travel._ I'll be there in seconds. Am I the only one that has noticed everything you say is in a sarcastic mutter?" He ducked when she threw a chunk of grass at him.

"If I never see you again, Nico di Angelo, the better my life will be as a whole." Karson scowled.

"Personally, I agree," Ella said laughing.

"You don't throw grass at _her,"_ Nico observed.

"Shut up, Ghost Boy, I won't be throwing grass next time, and I won't miss."

Nathan, laughing silently at a joke he didn't seem to be bothered to share, started off and walked down to the line to wait for the train. Cass ran after him, smiling her own secret smile and they immediately collapsed into laughter at the first thing Nathan said.

"Hmm..." sighed Ella sarcastically.

"I just can't _imagine_ what they are conversing about," I added.

Mr. Grace laughed and Nico smiled uncertainly, since he obviously did _not_ understand. Toby looked at me.

"I know, I know. You aren't coming," I said. "He wants to go see dad in Iowa," I told Ella when she looked at me funny.

"Aren't you half-siblings?" Mr. Grace asked. He was full of questions, never tiring of asking us Cleaners about our process.

"Yep," I told him. "His dad isn't alive anymore, so we just call my dad 'dad'. I'll be good, I promise," I told him, reaching out and squeezing his big hand. "I'm sure it would make you feel better if I actually meant it." The corners of his mouth twitched upward. 

I hugged him, ruffled Nico's hair, much to his annoyance, kissed Alan and Avalee on the top of their heads, patted Mr. Grace's cheek and then ran out to the platform.

"Seems like you've known them for years instead of days," Cass observed when they reached her.

"You know me," I told her, winking. "I've always been a very friendly person."

"We'll get off in New York, and then we'll find Argus, who'll take up to camp," said Cass, her voice tight.

"I think we're lucky Nico isn't coming," Karson said. "Not only is her a butt-hole, we also had hardly enough money."

"He isn't really a butt-hole," I said lazily. "I think he's kind of cute. I haven't exactly seen him shirtless, but I'm sure it would be a sight." I laughed at the color change in Karson's face. "I speak the truth! I'm like George Washington."

"So if I killed you, it would be considered murdering a president?" Karson said dryly.

I nodded, smiling.

"I hope your wooden teeth rot."

I was _bored_! These people on the train with us were so boring. I talked to an old lady and a stupid little boy I wanted to punch in the face but neither could hold my attention. I fidgeted.

"Stop it," Karson snapped,

"You're just angry we left your boyfriend behind," Ella told her.

"Firstly, he isn't my boyfriend, he is a butt-hole Secondly, I don't exactly see a David Jane anywhere on this train, do you?"

"He'll end up with Nico, I'm sure," she said airily.

David was having issues with his father, which he would not speak of.

Ella made fewer comments about Karson's pining after that.

"Stop moving around. You're making me nervous," Cass said, rubbing her temple. 

"I'm used to swinging tree from tree like a monkey to get to where I need to go. You all are holding me back," I teased. I started tap dancing, just to annoy her.

Nathan grinned at me. "You're like Ella," he said laughing. His smile dimmed. He looked around the train. "Nothing is wrong," he told Cass when she raised one brown eyebrow. "I just felt something weird."

"Like...walking in Jello weird or..."

"Like...shift weird." He played with a curl on the back of his neck. "Something shifted."

"Yeah, like someone screaming one cart over," Cass said sarcastically, standing in an instant, suddenly alert where she had looked half-asleep.

"I wish I could do that," Ella said.

"Yeah, morning would be so much easier." I sighed. Karson slid out from her seat. 

"If we break the train, it's your fault," she informed the rest of us.

"Sour puss," Ella said, wrinkling her nose. She flung the door open and jumped to the other side. We all followed.

"Let's see which friend we have today," Cass muttered, opening the door. She sighed. "Giants again. They are getting so rowdy lately."

A big man stood in the middle of the aisle. I mean, he was a _big man._ Try seven or eight feet tall with muscled arms—six of them. 

"All the better to strangle you with," Cass said casually. "Lovely."

"Gegenees," I told her, rolling my eyes. "They suck."

People were running around in the small space still left on the compartment, jumping over seats and people. Some were unconscious, and three lucky people were in three of the things big hands.

"I don't suppose you're just here to play, are you?" Cass asked.

The thing laughed. Karson gasped. "Not quite," he said, his voice low, like the guys on the radio that sounded like retired rappers. "I must admit, it's interesting the meet the girl that's captured Mistress Thea's interest so."

"Say what you will," she said stiffly. I loved that girl. She got all high and mighty when she was dealing with idiots. It would take more than that for him to shake her up on the _outside._

"Mistress wished her greatest condolences on your release, as your employment has been so amusing to watch. You're young friend is doing well, healthy as a horse. And now that you are being let go, she wishes for you to prove your worth again." He smiled and his teeth were pointed.

"My worth?"

"Indeed."

"No need to get all British, my big friend." She carefully unscrewed the cap of the plastic canteen she kept. "Come on at me. I assume that's what 'the Mistress' would want. You must have been so upset to be sent out as a lamb for the slaughter." He swung three arms and she squirmed out of the way like a cat. "Or maybe you liked it, being put to use. She knows you are going to die. You realize this, right?"

A fourth hand caught her in the stomach and she was thrown back against the chairs. I winced.

"Aren't you going to help?" Karson demanded.

"You can if you want. _I_ certainly don't want to draw Thea's attention. I'm sure she is watching."

Cass was up after three seconds (I counted), pulling a shard of plastic from a cup out of her side. Her hand was red, and the water she worked with had beads of red in it, floating like dye.

The monster was stronger and bigger, but Cass was faster and more technically advanced.

Nathan winced with each hit Cass took. "Screw Thea," he said finally. He pulled a knife out of his belt.

"Bad Nathan," Ella scolded playfully. "How'd that get passed the metal detector? My brother is a felon."

"Watch it, Terminator," I said, tapping his shoulder. "Thea wouldn't send just one." 

Without a moments hesitation Nathan opened the door we had come in through and jumped back to the original compartment. "This sucks," was all Karson said before following. Ella jumped with the grace of a dancer. I met Cass's eyes before passing them and walking through the door on the other side, avoiding the fight by climbing over the cushioned seats.

_If we break the train, it's your fault. _That's what Karson had said.

I laughed out loud. If only she knew what I'd done before. I'd destroyed entire buildings. I tried wrestling a bear once. I would have won if Toby hadn't caved the things head in.

"Hello," I said conversationally. Another Gegenees stood, guarding the door from the passengers cowering in the corner. Whatever the thug had done, it sure made them wet them selves.

"I thought you didn't want to get involved." He snickered.

"You shouldn't tease people. It's appealing if you're cute." I unsheathed my knife.

"You plan on beating my with a dagger?"

"If only were outside. Then I could strangle you without lifting a finger. I just got a manicure, you know." I kicked him in the face, and then it started.

He swung, planning on pushing me against the wall. I stabbed his beefy hand with my knife. I flipped out of the line of fire like a monkey when the other five hands swung at me. I took my knife and cut on one of his hands, which fell to the floor with a sickening thud.

"You are delaying the inevitable." One of his five good arms tried to put pressure on the sixth stub that used to be a hand.

"I'd like to die of old age, thanks. Being killed by an oversized side-kick isn't really how I planned to go." I clipped his temple with my boot, but it didn't seem to affect him. 

Swing, dodge. Swing, hit. That one hurt. My back cracked against the awkward shape of the chairs. I yelped. "Ouch. You need anger management. Child abuse!" I cried, cracking my spine back into place. "You could go to jail for that." I slid between his legs and kicked him from behind. He staggered, but kept upright.

Stupid oaf grabbed me and I made contact with my old fried the wall again. The knife flew from my hand. I slid to the ground, dazed. My leg was bleeding somehow. Must have hit something sharp.

"Too bad." He clapped, laughing, his pointed teeth flashing. "Now, little monkey kid, you die."

"Hardly," I gasped. A dagger glinted in the air, hitting his open mouth with so much force it almost went through. "I'm too intelligent to only carry one knife, idiot." 

With a wave of my hand, the mortals stopped cowering, glancing around them, confused. As he dissolved, I took up his huge hand, the one I had cut off, and went into the compartment Cass had been in before anyone could notice I had been there. It was a mess too, mortals cleaned up glass from broken windows. But Cass was nowhere to be seen. 

I carried the hand casually. Hopefully they thought it was a teddy bear or something. In our original compartment, the rest of my companions sat together, but all of the mortals, the grandma and annoying little boy, I had seen in the next one over. We were alone.

"There was one in the fourth compartment, too," Ella informed us. I plopped the hand on the table. "Nathan fought the first one, with my help, and then Karson skewered it with an arrow. We went to the next on to check. Nathan dealt with that one himself."

Cass was bleeding in her side from the plastic shard, and her eye was starting to blacken. She had bruises already forming. Nathan had blood caked on the right side of his face, the gash hidden somewhere behind his hairline. Karson was dabbing at it with a wet cloth. He was bending his left arm back and forth like it was stiff. "Giant meat head dislocated it," was his cheerful reply. Ella and Karson were covered in scratches and bruises, but were basically fine.

I was sore all over, my leg was still bleeding, and all the flips I had done were making the room spin. I sat down. Ella already fixed Nathan's shoulder, and Karson had taken care of Cass's side, using a bandage from her carry-on. She began to wrap up my leg once it had pretty much stopped bleeding after wiping something that sting over it. "To stop infection."

"What you tell them?" I asked Cass, meaning the mortals. 

"MKR2."

"Me too," I said, shaking my head. "We've been friend for _too long._"

After that, the train got boring again. We got off when we planned, leaving quickly to avoid any questions about how a bunch of kids got so beat up while the rest of the riders were perfectly fine.

A many-eyed man was waiting for us in a chauffeur outfit. The truck read _Delphi Strawberry _something_,_ I think. Dyslexia was confusing.

I stretched my legs once we arrived at Half-Blood hill. "I never went here," I stated lazily.

"Me neither," Ella said. 

"I wish I hadn't." Nathan smiled.

"Welcome, then," Cass said, showcasing the big tree on the hills crest like that girl from _Wheel of Fortune._ "To Camp Half-Blood."

**I really did like the idea of a Percy or Annabeth chapter. Tell me what you think.**

**Okay!**

**ALAN GRACE**

**AVALEE GRACE**

**ELLA GRACE**

**NATHAN GRACE**

**DAVID JANE**

**NICO DI ANGELO**

**CASS HART**

**KARSON MAVERICK**

**OR SOMEONE TOTALLY DIFFERENT???**

**p.s. I'm sure you all have realized my total lack of action-scene-making-skills. Was this any better?!**

**REVIEW!**


	13. A Monster Named Revenge

a.n. Hmmm....I think I will do the next chapter in either Percy, Annabeth, or Nico's point of view.

_**Cassandra Hart, daughter of Poseidon**_

Here is the thing about camp. It's perfect. It looks like something from a post card. Everything is green, the water of the ocean is clean, the place is litter-free, and there are no fat kids in sight. I hate to admit it, but it's hard to be obese when you fight monsters and try to maim people on a regular basis. Flab was not tolerated at Camp Half-blood.

So, when I saw it again, I wondered why I ever left. It was so familiar and friendly. Of course, after that second was over, I remembered all of the bad memories. I kept my face emotionless, but I was grimacing on the inside.

Ella and Lora, however, were having a blast.

"I won!" Ella insisted from the bottom of the hill, grass in her hair and dirt on her clothes. Lora sat a little away from her. They had just rolled down the hill. "I was down here before you!"

"But I went father!"

"Since when does that mean you won?"

Nathan flicked his sister on the head. "Come on, Ella-bug, time to go see the Horse Man."

Ella looked up at him from her seat on the foot of the hill, watched his back as he walked ahead. She bit her lip, but her smile soon returned.

"Are you okay?" I asked, a little hesitant.

"Yeah," she said, jumping up, her hair bobbing around her shoulder. "He only calls me Ella-bug when he is worried or nervous."

"I didn't know Nathan _got_ nervous. Goodness, that idea is a strange one," Karson said dryly, holding out her hand to help Lora off of the ground. She looked around her, blonde hair blowing in her face. "Home sweet home."

"It's so _pretty _here," Ella said, looking around her in awe, beetle black eyes wide. "Like a dream."

"You dream of camping, I dream of chocolate," I said ruefully.

"I've never been here either! It looks like fun!" Lora said, sinking her bare feet into the earth. I always thought it was strange how she went everywhere without shoes on. Even on the train she would have walked around barefoot if I hadn't made her put on her boots. The Mist didn't cover her little quirks. "Come on!" Lora tugged on my hand while I was spacing out, pulling me toward the ocean.

"Oh, no. Lora you aren't—"

"It'll be _fun!_"

Ella started leaping after her, Karson being dragged behind shouting at Ella to let her go.

"Ella!" Karson screamed. "No, no, no, no, _no_!"

"Nathan!" I screeched, grabbing his hand as I passed. He saw what was happening. He grinned that stupid smile and started running with Lora too. "Thanks for the support!" I shouted at him at we ran to the pier.

He just laughed and jumped. Karson screamed, and I smiled just a little bit.

And then it was cold.

Saltwater swirled around me. My senses went haywire, and I was suddenly alert. When my butt hit the bottom, I looked around. A fish looked at me curiously. I waved. Nathan was swimming a few feet away. I kicked him. An air bubble flew out of him mouth (I figure he was laughing at me) and he swam to the surface.

I figured there was no use drawing attention to myself, so instead of staying under for an hour and coming out perfectly dry, I swam after him, my hair and clothes dripping wet.

Someone shoved a fluffy towel in my face. "She lives."

"Nico di Angelo!" Karson huffed. "What happened to 'two days'?"

Nico stood in front of us, holding a bunch of towels in different colors out to each of us as we popped out of the water. Ella and Lora were sitting crossed-legged on the ground with a hot pink towel draped over their shoulders. "I got bored," he said with a wolfish grin. "Beside, you forgot to add in the ambrosia. That stuff does wonders."

"No, I counted that in. What I forgot to add in, Nico di Angelo," Karson told him, snatching a blue towel from his arms. "was your idiocy. For it is beyond my comprehension."

"Well, at least I'm not predictable," he said dryly.

"What you fail to realize is that you would have died. I don't care if you _are_ a son of Hades!" she shouted at him and stomped off to get the bags she had dropped when Ella started dragging her to the water.

Nico made that confused face where you aren't sure whether to laugh it off or feel guilty. Awkward silence followed.

Ella took care of that.

"Don't worry, Nico. Karson is just dealing with intense emotions conflicting with her usual sullenness. I'm sure once she comes to terms with her feelings for you, things will be a lot easier." Then she skipped off after Karson. ("Buddy!")

Nathan shook out his black hair like a dog. He flicked water at me. I flicked some back. "Why would that bother someone dripping wet?" he asked cheerfully.

"Why would that bother someone whose dad is the god of _the sea?_"

"Touché." He rubbed his eyes. "Gods, stupid eyes."

"Did water get into your contacts?" asked Ella, walking back holding his glasses case.

"I wasn't wearing any. Everything far away is blurry." He shook his head and got more water on me.

"Watch it!"

Nathan grinned and put on his glasses. "So, how do I look?"

"Like a nerd," I told him, smacking his head.

"So critical." He scratched his head where I had hit him, looking up at the Big House. "Horse Man, here I come."

"Did you always call him that?" Lora asked, giggling, looking a little tipsy. Lora had always been like that. It seemed like she got drunk on life. I didn't want to see what would happen if she actually got _drunk_. I used to have nightmares about that.

"Never to his face," he said happily. "Except once before I left. I had to leave something for him to remember me by."

We started walking towards that stupid building, but I stopped outside the doors. "Come on!" Nathan said, grabbing my hand. "You fight monsters and you are afraid of an angry middle- aged drunkard?"

I made a face to hide my smiled. "He isn't an 'angry middle-aged drunkard'. He is my _employer._"

He laughed, then he turned to Ella. "This guy is slightly temperamental. The middle-aged guy, not the Horse Man. Don't say a _word_, lest you want to be driven crazier than you already are."

"For gods sakes, keep your voices down."

"Chiron!" I squealed, flinging my arms around his neck.

"It's nice to see you, too," he said. He looked exactly the same as when I left him. Horse body and all.

Ella looked at him in awe. Everyone else was looking at me.

"That's the first time I've seen you look childish." Nathan clapped me on the back.

"Oh, no," I said sarcastically. "I'm becoming one of _you_."

Nathan looked sympathetic. "It's a common fear. Right up there with failure, dying, and spiders."

Nico shuddered. "I hate spiders."

"Oh my goodness, Nico. You are such a girl." Karson scoffed and pushed passed him.

Nico followed her.

"I see my previous diagnosis is still standing quite firm," Ella said, skipping.

"I'm assuming she is _your_ sister," Chiron observed, glancing at Nathan.

"The position is up for grabs," Nathan told him. We both walked in.

Mr. D. sat at his little table, like I had never left. He still looked at me like I was a bug, and he still looked like he was an overgrown frat boy. "Hello, Kate."

"It's Cass," I told him, not missing a beat. "But hello, anyway."

"I don't even try to correct him any more," Karson whispered in my ear. I tried to imagine what kind of name he would mix with _Karson._ Sometimes, I think the effort it takes to think of a suitable mix-up is way more work than just saying their name the first time.

He sniffed, his purple-black eyes bored. "I assume you are aware of what comes next." He slid a playing card across the table to me. I took it, my gaze never leaving his, my chin up.

Queen of Hearts. Oh, the irony. A hint of a smile crossed my face, even if it was a sarcastic one.

I looked back up at him, and he hadn't stopped looking at me. "Cassandra Hart, you are hereby released." Something that felt like cool water flowed from the card in my hand to the shoulder of my right arm. Intertwining hearts wrapped around my upper shoulder marked me as a released Cleaner. I didn't bother looking at it.

Instead, I felt slightly relieved, weightless, almost. I remembered there was a time when I hated being a Cleaner. That working for the gods was a thing kept in my darkest nightmares. I looked at Mr. D. "Thanks," I said slowly, and I knew I meant it. He just smirked a bit, but I think he knew it too.

"Kate, take what little you have and go to cabin three." He sniffed again. "Your father decided to claim you, though I don't know why."

I was _weightless._ And slightly loopy. So the first thing I did when Mr. D. stood up was put my pale arms around his middle and gave him a hug. "Thank you," I whispered into his shoulder. I turned to leave, and the last thing I saw was his look of shock.

"Wait, could you do me a favor?" I asked him. I waited a second for him to respond. "Could you fix my hair?" With an impatient wave of his hand and mutter about girls, my hair darkened. Smiling, I waved and ran off.

"I thought your hair was naturally brown." Nathan hurried to catch up with me at the top of the hill, already reaching down to grab one of my bags. He really was a gentleman, although he was a turd sometimes. "You said you took after your mother. You didn't lie, did you?"

I almost turned and looked at him guiltily, but then I saw the wicked glint in his eye. He couldn't chastise me for lying. He was keeping plenty of secrets himself. "My eyes are my mothers. But she made me dye my hair once I came to camp, because she didn't want me to be treated any differently, I guess. My mom was all about equality." I wrapped my finger around on curling black spiral and made in bob up and down. "But since I don't have to hide anymore, I just figured..."

"I like it," he said, pulling one curl. "We match."

I looked over my shoulder and stuck my tongue out at him.

"I see you are feeling _much_ better."

"You seem amused."

"Never figured little Cass would ever get that stick out of her butt and be human for once." He tweaked my nose, and I slapped his hand away.

"I am only _half-_human, thank you very much." I opened the door of cabin three. Luckily, it was empty. I set my stuff down on a bed that didn't seem to be used and stretched my arms and legs.

"How does it feel?" Nathan asked, sitting on the bunk. "To be normal again?"

I sat down next to him. "It's strange. No matter how weird it is to think about starting a new life, it isn't nearly as scary as knowing the last one it over. To know I'm not needed anymore."

"People still need you," Nathan insisted. "_I_ need you. That has to count for something. Who else with I banter with?"

The room was suddenly really warm.

And very _loud._

Wait, that was outside. Outside was loud. I looked out of the still open door. "Crap." I stepped outside. "I really hate Ares kids."

"You're that newbie. The one that jumped in the ocean this morning." A girl, heavily muscled, thickly built, like all Ares kids, with mouse brown hair that was pulled back into a ponytail was standing in the area between the cabins, staring at me triumphantly."

"Believe me. That was _not_ by choice." I glared at Nathan over my shoulder.

"Oh, you totally wanted to," he said as he passed me, slipping out the door. I stuck my tongue out.

"Time for your orientation," the girl called out.

"Sweetie, I ain't no newbie," I informed her, reverting to my native Kentucky-speech. "You just _try_ stickin' my head in that toilet."

She smirked. "Was that a challenge?"

"No, it wasn't." I rolled my eyes. "It was a warning. Because if you touch me, there is no chance of your winning."

"Do you know who she is?" someone shouted from the crowd that was now circling us.

"It's not like I care," I told them, shrugging, like it was obvious. And it was. "I've dealt with Warheads before, don't think I haven't."

She swung at me, admittedly fast, but it was a good thing I was already moving. Her fist hit the air behind me, and I kneed her in the stomach before she could move out of range. She coughed, but she didn't make any other noise.

"Oh, that's right. Ares kids are tough," I said happily to myself.

"It's their one redeeming quality," Nathan responded. I laughed, and the girl's punch hit my shoulder, slamming me against the wall.

"That kind of hurt," I said, shrugging her off, but I grabbed her arm with both hands and gave her an Indian burn.

"Ah, elementary school classic."

"Nathan, I don't care how cute your face is. If you don't shut up, I'm going to punch it."

"You think my face is cute?"

I threw the girl at him. "Okay, okay! Point taken." He pushed her away.

She glared at the both of us. She kicked at me, and her foot hit my side. I punched her in the nose. Her arm flew out and boxed my ear. Pain seared in the left side of my face.

She picked up gravel from the ground and threw it at my face. Rocks knocked into my cheekbone. "That was low."

"You can't cheat in war," the girl informed.

"Never heard an Ares kid singing _that_ tune." I wiped blood from my face. "I thought you were all about honor, blah, blah, blah." I kicked her face. "Have you ever been outside this place at _all_?"

She stumbled back. All of a sudden her fist clipped my shoulder. I threw my leg out and kicked the back of her knees, sending her to the ground. When she reached for more gravel, I stepped on her hands. I punched her one more time for good measure.

Wiping blood from her nose, she started to get up again, but a hand pushed her shoulder down. "If your cabin needs to learn _anything_, it's when you've lost." The girl shook it off.

Then she glared at me. "What _are_ you?"

"Talented," I said wryly.

"And modest," Nathan said, coming behind me. I stepped on his foot.

"You've been here for less than one day, and you've already picked a fight?" Nico asked, running over, Karson huffing behind him, her face red.

"Like I said, talented." I grinned.

"I'll say," the person who had stopped her said. "Putting her down is no small feat." He was tall, maybe a year older than me and about three or four inches above my head. He had a tan, like he spent every moment at the beach, and his hair was black like mine. His eyes were sparkling sea foam green. "You look familiar."

"She should," Ella said, skipping over.

"She's your sister." Nico threw Nathan his bag. "Percy, meet Cass. Cass, meet Percy."

"Right, the famous one." I held out my hand, and he took it. I'm not weak, but his grip was like iron. "The one that saved the world a few times. Your reputation precedes you."

Percy looked me over. "I'm not sure if that makes me feel better or worse. But welcome to the family."

"You know, it's funny how you can be so charming after you fought a girl and are covered in dirt." I stepped on Nathan's other foot. "I speak the truth. Just like George Washington."

"Yes, the truth drips for your mouth like honey from comb," I said, pushing him away.

Percy looked at us for a second, but then he started laughing. "You remind of two people I know very well."

Nico smiled, grinning like a wolf. "Go figure."

"Cassie?"

"Already? I thought I would at least get in one day without having to deal with this," I sighed.

"You already made a scene." Nathan laughed.

"Nathan, have your toes gone numb yet?"

"A while ago, actually."

Annabeth stood next to Percy. Her gray eyes were wide, calculating. "You're dead."

"As good as," I said sheepishly. "I'm hardly the same person I was."

"You look the same." Her eyes were nostalgic.

"I think you're taking this very well," I commented.

She looked at me, and I realized she looked the same too. "You left."

"I had too."

"No."

"Yes. I had too."

"Why?" Her voice was even, scarily solid.

"Thea ratted me out."

"That isn't an excuse."

"Thea told Kronos I was a spy and sent his dogs after me. Thea kidnapped my sister."

"Then Thea couldn't comeback. What about you?" Everything was so clear for her. I envied that.

"I had to find her," I said, taking a shuddering breath.

"I thought you were _dead_," she spat.

"Cassie Hart _is_ dead," I told her. "Cassie Hart got eaten by a monster named revenge."

**Okay!**

**ALAN GRACE**

**AVALEE GRACE**

**ELLA GRACE**

**NATHAN GRACE**

**DAVID JANE**

**NICO DI ANGELO**

**CASS HART**

**KARSON MAVERICK**

**OR SOMEONE TOTALLY DIFFERENT???**

**p.s. Action scene???? Good or bad?**

**REVIEW!**


	14. Payment for Bacon

a.n. SO...I got one for Nathan, Karson, Nico...but no doubles...So it is going to be Nathan, because I am in love with him. :)

I could have made this chapter a lot longer, but I want to go on to the next one. So...deal with it. :)

_Nathan Grace, son of Nyx_

I was heavy. I couldn't move much, that is the first thing I noticed. Secondly, it was wet. 

That was probably because I was underwater.

I looked around in awe. Fish swan here and there, the water bubbling as they moved around. My feet were touching the bottom, and the water above me was more than a few feet. I could feel pressure on my lungs as they tried to work.

Suddenly they felt as though they were going to burst like a balloon popped with a safety pin. Bubbles flew from my mouth.

Then there was someone in front of me, hair billowing around her face in the water like a black cloud. They were all shadowy. They poked my chest. Bubbles flew from my mouth again.

She looked at me feet, I think. She tugged at something invisible I couldn't see, trying to pry it lose. She sighed, shoulders moving, then grabbed my own with her hands and brought my mouth to hers, breathing for me, giving me air. The pain in my lungs lessened.

She drew back, her hands still on my shoulders, and I saw a flash of a smile under her hair and shadow. I almost smiled back. Then she shrieked, and the water around her turned red.

Then I woke up. And just about shrieked myself.

Lyla Rose was staring at me, her entire torso hanging over the rail of her bunk above my bed to stare at me with two big, black eyes. When I first found out I had _another_ sister, I was a bit surprised. Now, she was just another family member. But waking up with her in my face was not something I would like to repeat.

Lyla is seven years old, younger than both Ella and myself, and she was born in Iowa, which she hated ("I mean, _anything_ but Iowa!") and still does to this day. She's small, with big eyes, full lips, and tightly coiled black hair that never seemed to mess up. Her nose was sprinkled with freckles. She was a dancer, like Ella, so at two in the morning I would see them in a contest to see who could hold the most uncomfortable-looking position. Lyla always won.

"You looked funny while you were sleeping," she said in her quiet voice, her coils of hair swaying with an unseen wind around her upside down face. "Did you have a nightmare?"

"A bit," I admitted, stretching.

"Do you need Bud?"

Mr. Bud was a stuffed bear that smelled like smoke, with a white ribbon tied around his neck and soft light brown fur. Lyla had it everywhere.

"I think I'm okay now," I told her softly, smiling a little. "But thank you for offering." I scratched my head. "Do you know where Ella is?"

"She went to breakfast with Pez." Lyla, not bothered to take the ladder propped against the bed, carefully threw her legs over the side and jumped to the floor. Lyla, she'll do anything, the craziest things you could imagine, but she always does them_ carefully._

"What time is it?"

"Seven," Lyla said quietly. "You've slept for two hours."

Coming to the Nyx cabin showed me something. You have insomniac Nyx children, like Ella and I, and then you have nocturnal Nyx children, like Lyla, and her twin sister Pez. Both of them slept during their classes at every chance they could get, but they slept not at all during the night.

I jumped from bed, bulled on a pair of pants and a clean t-shirt and I ran from the cabin. It was obsidian almost entirely, shadowy and impossible to see in the dark, which was a total pain after coming back from a midnight bathroom run.

I ran into the food hall. My stomach rumbled, and I felt a great need for sausages covered in maple syrup, but first, I had to find Ella and Pez.

Pez and Lyla are identical except for one thing. Her eyes. If it weren't for that, they would be impossible to tell apart. They have the same tightly coiled hair, though hers is cut much shorter, the same splash of freckles and the same full lips. The only difference was that Pez's eyes were less focused and completely cloudy, slivery without any of the black the three of us shared. Pez had been born blind.

Not that it stopped her. She had also been born with this freaky sixth sense. She knew where everything was, if someone was behind her, et cetera. She was a genius with languages, like her sister, and knew at least ten different languages, eleven if you counted Pig Latin. These included French, Spanish, Bosnian, Chinese (and Mandarin), Japanese, Korean, Italian, Latin, German, Russian, as well as Ancient Greek (of course), not to mention English.

Pez was a genius at healing and Lyla was a master tactician, on par with the Athena kids and able to come up with complex plans in seconds, which made her wonderful at hand-to-hand.

Of the two, Lyla was the normal one, the childish one. Pez seemed older, with a scathing sense of humor that rivaled a brooding teenager's and a vocabulary that was not far from Alan or Avalee's. The two sets of twins were almost indentical.

I saw Ella waving at me from a table empty but for her and the older Rose twin. I nodded then went to get food before sitting down at the table. Next thing I know, Miss Ares from the day before slams her hand down next to my drink. "Good morning," I said happily. Pez's large lower lip quivered, then she rolled her eyes.

"Darn Ares kids. Aggression is the _least_ of their problems."

The girl snarled. "Where is your girlfriend, boy?"

Ella snorted. "I don't think their boyfriend-girlfriend. What a scary combination. You would rip each other apart in a matter of minutes." She stuffed an entire piece of bacon down her throat.

I grinned at her. "That can't be good for your health, sister dearest."

"Bacon is _wonderful_ for my health, nag."

"Butt nugget."

"Insomniac!"

"You are too!" I said laughing, then I looked at the other girl. "I suspect that she is sleeping at this ungodly hour."

"It's only seven."

"For Cass, this is an ungodly hour." I inspected a piece of bacon on my plate. "How can you even fit this I your mouth?" I asked Ella.

"Simple. I have a big mouth." And to prove it, she snatched my piece of bacon and shoved it into her mouth again.

"You'll never get a boyfriend."

"I have one, thank you very much," she said, winking at me.

"You guys are so _weird!_" the girl hissed.

"You just spit in my eggs," I told her.

"She spit in my _face,_" Pez complained. "I think I win."

"Shut up, Helen Keller," the Ares kid snarled.

"I'm not deaf, you know," Pez pointed out. "And at least I didn't get creamed by the new kid in front of the entire camp instead of shoving her head in the toilet." Her voice was even, calm, like she was commenting on the weather. She was always like that.

"Well, where is she? I have a score to settle."

"Behind you," Cass said, tapping her shoulder, after she had walked up behind her.

"You!" the girl hissed.

"What are you, a snake?" Cass complained.

"She spit in my face," Pez told her.

"Yeah? Well, she spit in my eggs." I turned to her. "You are totally wrong. I _so_ win."

"How do you figure?"

"You can't eat your face."

"Interesting point," Cass said dryly.

"Just who do you think you are?" the girl asked. I wished I knew her name already. The Girl is so generic. "I have a bone to pick with you."

"Was is that, an idiom?" Cass reached over and stole another piece of bacon.

"What is _this_?" I demanded. "Get your own, you mooch."

"Shut up, I'm a growing girl."

"I don't think you're growing in the right direction."

"Was that a fat joke?"

"Of course not." I flicked her fingers when she reached for another bit of food from my plate.

"What was your name again?" Cass asked The Girl, flicking my ear.

"Reese."

"Nice name."

Reese's face got beat red. "You think you can come in here and mess with me, just because your dad is some big shot?"

"Can't I?" Her voice was cold. "It was _you_ that picked the fight, you know."

"It doesn't matter who started it," I scolded teasingly. "It matters who finished it."

"Well, guess who did that?" Cass remarked.

I rolled my eyes. "You have to be beaten eventually, or else your head won't fit in the door anymore."

She flicked my ear again.

"I want a rematch," Reese demanded.

"Sure, if you think it will help." Cass yawned.

"Don't look down on me!" Her eyes turned bright. "I'll defeat you."

Cass looked down at her, a feat, since the girl was a good five inches above her. "Not today, you won't."

"You all aren't going to fight _again_, are you?" Percy asked, trotting over, plate stacked with more food than even Ella could eat balanced professionally on one hand. "I'd hate to have my appetite ruined by cleaning guts off the wall."

"Can I steal bacon from _you_?" Cass asked, reaching up when Percy held it out of her reach.

"Little sister, no you can _not. _You can, however, get your own and stop messing with poor Reese's head before her lovely sister Clarisse comes over and bits off my head." Percy pushed her away.

"Kill joy," Cass muttered behind me.

"You owe me bacon," I called after her.

"I'll just have to save your life someday." She waved a hand over her shoulder.

"Yeah. _Then_ we'll be even." I rolled my eyes. A roll hit my head from behind, and when I turned, I saw Cass smiling a little as she walked over to the Poseidon table with Percy and a shocked satyr missing a roll.

I hurried to eat and went outside, because the looks I was getting (both deadly ones from the Ares table and awkward ones from the Aphrodite girls) were beginning to make me a little jittery.

I made my way down the familiar path to the arena, which I was surprised that I remembered at all. I passed a bunch of kids playing volleyball, which made me miss the chilling snow from home.

Nico was in the arena, like I knew he would be. "Yo," I said, laughing a little.

He looked up, black eyes to black eyes, and sighed. "Yo."

"Nice to see you, too, buddy." I picked up a stray dagger and threw it at a dummy. I winced as it hit.

"That isn't what I meant." Nico looked up. "I just have a bad feeling."

I scuffed my foot on the ground. A little puff of dirt blew up around my legs. "Do you mind...explaining? It would be helpful."

"I don't know," he admitted, scratching his head. "It just feels weird, you know? Like something is going to shift."

"The way I see it," I told him. "is that all of this stuff with Cass and Lora and Thea has been building up for so long. Eventually, something's got to give. And soon. I've only been in this for so long—"

"And it already feels like too much," Nico finished for me dryly.

"Want to try me?" I asked, picking up a sword. The glint in his eye was enough of an answer for me. the rest of the day, we did almost nothing else, took just enough steps from the arena to go to the bathroom and back, and beat each other to a pulp multiple times. By the time we realized what the time was, the sky was dark.

Nico touched his fingers to a bit of blood on his forehead. "Remind me not to make you mad."

I laughed. "I don't see why. You could always suck away my soul."

"Like the Grim Reaper." He put his sword back into the sheath.

"Nico!" Karson called, running in like a crazy person, her blond hair tied in braids. "Oh, Nathan! Thank the gods! Trouble! Trouble, big big _big_ trouble!" She heaved.

"Are you alright?" Nico asked, worried, handing her a cup of water.

She waved it away impatiently. "Not now! Thanks anyway."

I grinned. I thought back to Karson a few months before. What a difference. Then I stopped. Her arm was bleeding. "Are you sure you're okay?" I asked.

"No! No one is!" Karson said, her brown eyes frustrated. "Monsters got into camp."

"Like...this?" Nico spread his hands a little bit apart, like he was referring to something small.

"More like this," Karson said, spreading her arms as far as they could go. "Giants. Like the ones on the train."

"There were giants on the train?" Nico asked.

"Don't ask," Karson said ruefully. "I don't know who the heck this Thea chick is but she is getting on my _last_ nerve. Lora thinks that girl is getting together a huge army of the stupid giants."

"And she sent one _here_?" Nico asked. "How is that possible?"

"I don't care, you idiot!" Karson snapped. She put her head in her hands. "Cass, Ella, Lora, even Lyla, everyone is out there trying to stop the—"

"Do they have six arms?" Nico asked suddenly.

"Some of them do. I don't see how that was worthy of an interruption."

Nico put his hand under her chin and turned her head to the doorway. An amused looking giant was standing with his legs shoulder width apart like a soldier.

"What do you want?" Nico asked, his voice steady, while Karson paled.

"Crap," she muttered. I heard her curse herself in ancient Greek.

"I have a message from Mistress Thea," he said, his voce booming.

"Cass isn't here," Karson told him, her voice a little shaky, not that I blame her. "She is out there. Beating up one of _you_."

"The message isn't for Cassandra Hart. I'm looking Nathanial Grace, son of Nyx."

"Perfect," I said, stepping forward. "I was getting bored anyway. Although I like Nathan better than 'Nathanial', don't you?"

"I don't talk to trash." The giant sneered.

"Then how'd you get the message from Thea?"

"I could crush you like a bug."

"I dare you to try," I challenged.

"You can't bait me into a fight."

"Darn, that was my best effort, too." I shook my head. "You have a message? Shoot."

"Mistress Thea would like it if you would join us," he said, but slowly, like it hurt him. "She says that she observed you on the train and she was impressed. She'd like to offer you a position."

"I decline."

"I'm not sure that's an option."

"Well, was it an _offer_ or an _order_? There is a difference."

"I don't understand my mistress's thoughts on this matter, and I would like to voice my disagreement."

"You do that," I told him. "I'm going to kill you anyway."

"Nathan," Karson said, tapping my shoulder. "I think you need a nice shot and a strait jacket."

"Maybe," I told her. "I don't like needles, though."

"Wimp."

"Hardly."

"Can you handle this?" Nico asked in my ear, grabbing Karson's arm. "We need to help out there."

"It's only one," I told them. I was an idiot.

Both of them left out through the back door, making their way around the arena to find an opening while the giant stood there with his arms crossed, leering at me.

"Are you just going to stand there, or will you fight?" I asked.

"You, my young friend, are rash." He sneered. "We have strict orders. _Bring him to me alive._ But, see, I don't like you." He took a step closer. "I don't like _your kind._ Idiot heroes that think they can do whatever they want. Mistress, of course, in an exception. But you all are so delicate, fragile, like children." I didn't take my eyes off of him. "It isn't uncommon for us to...break you. We just don't know our own strength."

I caught the fact he was using plural terms. Movement in the shadows.

"But, we don't like your friend either, this _Cass._" Another giant, walking out from the darkness, spat. "Mistress thinks of almost nothing else." Two more followed it.

"So, what worse death for you than drowning? Then she would be so...angry. She just could save you." I felt a hand on my neck and whipped my head around. Another one stood behind me.

"This is..." I took a shuddering breath. "Much more than one." There were five in all. Six arms each. That meant that I had thirty problems. Thirty _big,_ meaty, buff problems waiting to drown me. I flipped the sword around, cutting off to of one Giants arms. Twenty-eight problems.

One moved for me, and I cut off its fingers and then chopped off the hand at the wrist. Twenty-seven problems.

I whirled and chopped, cutting off limbs like a maniac, or a monkey that had coffee. It was the seventeenth problem that did me in. That was the one I tripped over.

I went sprawling, my sword going in one direction, my body going another, and my stomach going a third way. I smacked down on the ground, and Big Ugly picked me up by my shirt.

"Are you going to drown me now?" I asked, smiling a little.

"What an annoying brat." He tore off a piece of the concrete wall (I was happy to notice he had only three arms left, but my enthusiasm was short lived), and he pulled a chain from around his waist that he had been wearing like a belt. He laughed as he tied it to my feet.

He threw me to another giant like a bag of potatoes, and the next thing I know, I'm being tossed in the ocean off the dock, flying in the air from the mere strength of it, and splashing into the salt-water with such force I couldn't breath for a second, the impact stinging my skin. _Crap._

It was like my dream. My feet couldn't move as I sunk to the bottom, the dead weight dragging me down as a make shift anchor. My lung almost burst. Bubbles flew. And then I knew what was coming next.

It was the girl from the dream, covered in shadow. Black hair covered her face. But it was different, too real, almost. Her shoulders sagged and her breathing seemed labored. I let lose an onslaught of bubbles as the pain in my lungs grew. I began to get dizzy.

I felt her try desperately to get me untied, but it didn't work. Then she grabbed my shoulders and helped me breath, just like before. But like I said, it was different. Too real.

Unlike in the dream, it wasn't only once. She seemed as though she were waiting for something, breathing for me every once in a while, looking up in worry. Then the thing I had been dreading happened.

She screamed, bubbles raining upward from her mouth, and the water around her turned red. She bent over, clutching her stomach. The fish around us looked over, and if I weren't half drowned, I would have sworn up and down they were worried too.

I reached out, trying to help. She pushed me away stubbornly. Taking deep breath, as if to calm herself, she made some weird call. At first I was confused because nothing happened.

Then, nothing less than a _shark_ came up out of absolutely nowhere, and I was even _more_ confused. And a heck of a lot more scared. The girl pointed at my feet, and I started freaking out. But instead of chomping on my entire lower body, the chain was easily bitten in two. Naturally, I started floating upward, and the girl but one hand on my back, gave me one more breath of air, and we shot together up to the surface and fresh air.

I would never have imagined how great fresh air would taste. Then again, I never figured I would almost drown to death. For a minute or two, I just lay on the dock, breathing, coughing up salt-water, and reveling in life itself. I might have blacked out once of twice, because it turned out I was laying there for half an hour.

"Nathan!" someone called. "_Nathan!"_ Pez slapped my head and Lyla grabbed my shoulders, shaking me. "You _idiot!"_ Pez screamed. "How could you try to take on five of those things at once? They almost destroyed the whole camp!"

"Well...there weren't five when it started," I told her, coughing. Then I remembered. "Cass. Where is Cass?"

"You owe her a thank you for saving you."

That's what I thought. Cass was the one in the dream, and the one in the water that had saved me. And kissed me. She would never hear the end of it. "Is she okay? She was..."

"Bleeding," Lora said, skipping over. "Stupid monster ripped her almost in half and she decides to play hero and jump into the ocean." She handed me a towel.

"She's in the infirmary right now," Pez said.

"I saw Karson and Ella go down with her. Nico is in the woods with a few other kids, getting rid of a few runaway's." Lyla shuddered. "I hate those things."

"I'm going to kill Cass," I said darkly, thinking of her screaming in the water. And they said I was the idiot.

"It's her fatal flaw," Lora said. "She always thinks she has to save everyone, all by herself. She's been like that since we met. I was hoping to break her out of it. Didn't work." She laughed.

"She could have just given me another piece of bacon," I sighed.

"Nathan!" I heard from a long way off.

"Ella, get back here!" Karson called jogging behind her. Cass was walking toward us, a lot closer, wincing. Wincing myself, I got up to meet her.

When she saw me, her face got red, even her ears. She was about to say something, but I stopped her. "Thanks."

She sighed. "I had to pay you back."

"Somehow, I don't think this is equal trade for a piece of bacon."

"You've done more than that, and you know it," Cass remarked. "But you don't have to get involved anymore."

"I think I'm involved whether I like it or not." I told her about the message.

Cass grimaced. "I'm sorry."

"S'okay." I shrugged. "Would have happened anyway."

"Nathan!" Ella screamed again. Something in her voice made me look at her. She had run all the way from the infirmary, fresh bandages half-wrapped, like she had left in the middle. "Nathan!" She reached us, and she looked afraid for the first time.

"Ella, stop! You're injured." Karson was panting.

"Nathan, David and Dad, they messaged me," she said, clutching my shirt, ignoring her friend. "Alan and Avalee, they went after Lee and Thea. They're _gone_, Nathan. Gone!"

**Okay!**

**ALAN GRACE**

**AVALEE GRACE**

**ELLA GRACE**

**NATHAN GRACE**

**DAVID JANE**

**NICO DI ANGELO**

**CASS HART**

**KARSON MAVERICK**

**OR SOMEONE TOTALLY DIFFERENT???**

**p.s. I am in love with Nathan. Who is with me? :)**

**Next chapter will probably be in one of the twins points of view, so which one? Alan...or Avalee?**

**REVIEW!**


	15. How to be Convincingly British

a.n. Guess I'm taking a crack at Alan this time. :) I would love to hear your thoughts on their parents. I love theories. 

_Alan Grace_

Last year, Ella absolutely insisted on us watching the _Harry Potter_ movies in their entirety. 

One marathon of wizardry later, both Avalee and I were obsessed with the young wizard, owls, and anything British. I guess we could have been considered anglophiles. It was this experience, however, that gave Avalee the inspiration to talk with an English accent during our little escapade in Texas. As if speaking like Austin Powers would somehow justify our eerie intelligence and extensive vocabulary. Not to mention the fact that we were traveling to another sate alone. No sane person would ask any questions to a six-year-old kid from England.

Surprisingly, nobody did. We have both been told that we sound British before, so it was astonishingly easy to make it sound legitimate. I got six compliments and when Avalee asked the lady at the counter for a ticket to Texas, we were held up for ten minutes saying stupid things in British accents to appease both the lady and the people in line around us. But not once did anyone ask us where our parents were.

My faith in America has severely diminished.

"Alan! Come, we're here!" Avalee said in my ear, gleefully clapping her hands together, once we had made it out into the parks of Texas. "Isn't this so _exciting_?"

I smiled a bit. "I'm imagining what Nathan will do when he gets here. 'Exciting' isn't what I would call it."

Avalee grimaced. "Well, in any case, _I'm_ excited. I've never been so far from home. I wish they had taken us to camp with them. I love father, but home is so boring in the winter without anyone to tease."

"David."

"David isn't nearly as fun as Karson or Nico."

"In your opinion, no one is nearly as fun to tease as Nico," I told her, tweaking her nose in my most Nathan manner.

"That's because no one is." She hopped down from her seat, blonde hair tied into two loose pigtails. The bench we had been sitting on was hopelessly rusted. Stretching, she turned and rummaged through the bag she had brought. Pulling out the sixth _Harry Potter _book, she sat back down and turned to a random page.

"Put that away," I scolded.

"Why? Will I be accosted by _Twilight_ fans?" Avalee taunted, pulling the book out of my reach before I could snap it shut. "I could take 'em."

I raised one eyebrow.

Avalee scoffed. "I'm offended by your denial of my skills."

"Well, one of us has to be realistic." I laughed.

"Fine, Mr. Sarcasm. Nathan and Cass are rubbing off a bit too much."

"Can you blame me when they bicker so darn _loud_?"

"Then tell me, Alan, dearest brother, why I must be deprived of the best series in history?" she asked. "And that includes _Twilight_, because vampires scare me and I'm allergic to werewolves."

"What kind of six-year-old do you know that reads a book that big?"

"Counting us? Two," she smiled. "Guess you're right." Sighing, Avalee tucked her book back into the bag. "Well, I'll just be bored until we find Miss Lee."

"Daddy gave us an address, so it shouldn't take too long." I took out the slip of paper. I was glad that our godly parent was much more involved with us than most, but thinking about him made me think about the car-wreck and mom, and that still hurt.

Avalee tugged on my arm. "There is a bus!" she called, dragging me onto it with her. Don't ask us where we got the money we needed to make it there from home. It's a long story I wouldn't like to get into.

Paying the bus driver, I answered his suspicious glance with a greeting in my best British voice. After a while, it didn't seem to bee hard to always speak that way, because you just got used to it. The driver looked as though this one word answered any questions he had for us, and we took a seat in the back of the bus, on our way to meet the girl that we both knew would play a major part in changing our worlds forever.

Lee Hart wasn't hard to spot. Her face was like Cass's, square, with cheekbones still not fully developed and covered in the last bits of baby fat. Her skin was pale, not as pale as Ella or Nathan, just a bit tanner than Cass, with dark eyes and dark, curly hair. She couldn't have been older than ten.

"Um..." she asked, walking over to us, much to our surprise, nibbling her lower lip. "You wouldn't happen to know the street name, would you?" She scratched her head sheepishly.

"Are you lost?" I asked, cocking my head to the side.

"Sort of..." She smiled like she had been caught doing something bad. "It's hard for me to read. I have this thing called...um...it starts with a 'd'..."

"Dyslexia," Avalee offered. "We have that as well.

"I suppose you can't read the sign?" 

She shook her head. "Sister will _kill_ me when I get home. She hates it when I'm late."

"Do you live with her?" Avalee asked. We all started walking toward the bench by the sidewalk.

"Yes. She is much older than I. She is already almost finished with college, so she spends most of her time out of the house. I live with her and Nana and a bunch of the people that work for her." She grinned proudly. "Sister is already the head of a big company."

"Really?" Avalee went wide-eyed. I let her do the talking, since she was so much better at it than I ever was. "What does she do?"

Lee shrugged. "I have no idea. Too many big words that I don't understand. I honestly stopped trying to understand."

The number one way to lose a little kid: Use big words. 

"I'm Lee, by the way. Lee Bell." She laughed. "Forgot to introduce myself."

Neither of us reacted when she said, "Bell" and not "Hart". "My name is Alan," I told her shyly. I only ever spoke out when I was with Avalee.

"My name is Avalee." She jumped up and down. "We made a new friend!"

"Do you live around here?" Lee asked, sitting down on the bench, seemingly forgetting about her sister and being late. 

"Nope, we're just visiting." Ava cocked her head. "We were here with our uncle, but he is doing business of his own, so we've been left on our own for the day." 

"That's _terrible_," Lee shuddered. "Doing that to a child."

"I'm not a child!" Avalee huffed. I snorted a little, but only she heard me. "I turn seven this week, thank you very much."

"Well, I'm still older!" I teased, pulling one of her pigtails.

"Two minutes! Two minutes, that's all!"

"Well, if you're alone all day, you should come over for dinner. Thea will be more than happy to have you for company. It isn't like she does the cooking anyway." Lee smiled.

"Didn't she ever teach you not to talk to strangers?" I asked. Avalee elbowed me. "It's a sensible question."

"But you guys aren't strangers! I feel like I've known you for years!" Lee insisted, punching the air.

"Maybe we're long lost relatives," Avalee offered, and I suppressed a secret smile.

"Like in all of those books!" Lee leaned toward me. "Do you like to read?"

"A bit." I laughed. "How much reading can an almost-seven-year-old do?"

"I don't see what kind of damage you guys could do, and since you're out of house and home...come on! Let's go." She stood up, determined. "But..."

"You're lost, remember?" Avalee said, grinning.

"Right."

I told her the name of the street. 

"Oh. It isn't too far from home. Let's catch a bus." Lee looked over her shoulder. "I love your accent, by the way."

Avalee grinned. "Thanks." She gave me a look. _That was my idea._

*****

"What about _your_ family?" Lee asked, cutting the meat on her plate with clumsy fingers. We'd been coming over for dinner for a few days by then. We hadn't see anyone other than the chef and a few waiters since our first visit.

I looked at Avalee. "It's pretty big."

"Besides us, we have an older brother who is a junior in high school, and a sister who is a sophomore but should be a freshman. The four of us live with our father." Avalee chewed her bite carefully.

"No mother?"

"Ella and Nathan have a mother, but they don't see her too often. Our mom is dead," I told her bluntly. "Me and Ava are adopted."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Lee told us quickly. "I didn't mean to...you know."

"No one ever does." I laughed. "Let's change the subject."

"Okay, what are your siblings like?"

"Ella, she's crazy. Well, they're both crazy. But Ella's a nut job sometimes." Ava laughed.

"She's always happy, never gets cold, enjoy irritating her friend/rival, Karson, and always knows what to say to get a reaction." As I said this, I listed off the things on my fingers.

"Nathan is a bit different." Avalee sighed. "He gets angry easier than Ella, but he always smiles, so most of the time you never know. He cares about our family, takes care of us. But he's really sarcastic and funny, and everyone loves him at school."

"Sounds nice," Lee said wistfully.

"Karson is Ella's best friend," Avalee continued, and I knew even if I tried to stop her from talking, she wouldn't be able to. "She is, like, Ella's polar opposite, snippy, on edge, but she's really nice. She makes great food."

"Nico is this boy that's been staying with us lately," I added, thinking an interruption might keep my sister at bay. "He's brooding and sulky sometimes, but he's really strong. He's nice if you can get him out of his gloom. And he'll do anything for a friend once you get that far."

Avalee was the one that took the plunge. "Then there is Cass. She is really mocking in a teasing kind of way. Her and Nathan got back and forth so much I could count on one hand how many times they've had a serious conversation."

Lee had no reaction to the name of her sister, no flash of realization. I remembered what I heard Lora and Nico and Karson talking about, the letter Thea had sent. Lee really didn't remember. She would have been five or six when she left, so she should have.

"What about you?" I asked slowly. "What's your sister like?"

Lee took a deep breath. "I love her. I really do." She said it like she was trying to convince herself. "She loves me too, I know. She always does what's best for me. She gives me nice things, keeps me out of trouble. But lately, I've been worried about her." She twirled her finger in her cup of water. "She's always been really concentrated on her work, but lately, it's been over the top. She's obsessive, she likes to win. Thea has this thing, she calls in her Project. She never talks about it, but I think it's a person. Or maybe a group of people." 

Lee wasn't going to stop either. It's strange, when you hold things back. Once you get started talking, it's hard to stop the words from leaving. 

"Maybe they got on her bad side. She's always been working on it, so it must have happened a really long time ago. Lately, it's all she thinks about. Once, when I couldn't seep, I went outside her bedroom door and just listened. She was talking about something she saw, something she wanted. 'I want him,' she said. 'I want you to get him. No isn't an option. And after I get him, I want _her._'" Lee shivered. "I wonder who they are. And I wonder what they're _for_."

_Something nasty, no doubt. _Ava and I looked at each other. Him. They were probably with Cass. That meant either Nico or Nathan. Maybe both. _Her_ had to be Cass.

Just then, Thea walked in. I knew it was her in an instant. She was shorter than average, curvy, with dark brown hair and light, blue eyes that were glinting. She didn't look anything like Cass or Lee. "Company," she said dryly.

"Um...yes. They helped me when I got lost," Lee said quickly. "I offered them dinner."

"What did I say about strangers?"

"But you bring them in all the time." Lee cringed. It must have sounded bad even to her.

"They aren't strangers. They're clients. Important clients. Are these two clients?" Thea asked sternly. 

"No, sister." Lee sounded defeated.

"Introduce us."

"Of course," Lee brightened, eager to please. "Alan and Avalee, this is my sister, Thea. Thea, Alan and Avalee."

"Nice to meet you," Avalee said happily.

"You too, I'm sure." She didn't sound sure. She was giving us one message: I don't like you. You need to leave.

"Maybe we should go. I feel awful for intruding like this," I said, standing. Avalee hopped down next to me.

"Thank you for inviting us." She waved.

Thea stopped us before we left the front door, Lee still in the other room. "I don't want your kind here."

"What do you mean?" Avalee asked, her brow furrowed.

"I know what you are." Thea looked down on us. 

"Then I suppose the situation is equal, Miss Bell." Avalee curtsied. "I appreciate your hospitality."

"I hope your family does as well." Thea laughed. "Because they're currently enjoying as well." Her tone was bitter.

"What do you mean?" I asked warily.

"They came looking for you, poor idiots." She yawned. "Found them on the streets. Of course, I wanted to see the reunion. So I had some of my workers bring them here." We were walking. I wasn't sure when my feet had started moving. "I supposed demigods could travel fast when they wish to. Shadow travel is a wonderful thing, but the poor guy wore himself out transporting such a large group. I really would like to keep him, but I have my eye on another."

"Nathan..." Avalee muttered under her breath. I cursed in ancient Greek.

"Got you too, huh?" They were all there. Nico, Karson, Ella, Nathan, Cass...Lora must have stayed behind. But with these five, Thea had more than enough.

Avalee ran over to Nathan. "I'm sorry we ran." Her fake accent deteriorated. "We should have stayed."

"You should have," Nathan admitted, smoothing the hair away from her face. "Don't you ever do that again."

Avalee shook her head. "Never ever."

I stood by the side, awkwardly, like always. Thea pushed me into Cass. I felt her hand on my shoulder. It was tense, like she was trying her hardest not to attack on sight. I never got the scope for just how badly Cass hated Thea. I knew now.

"Where is Lee?" she asked through clenched teeth.

"The twins over there just finished dinner with her. I expect she went upstairs to take a shower. She doesn't come to this part of the house. Not when I told her not too. I've got her wrapped around my finger. Poor thing doesn't suspect a thing."

I bit my lip, thinking about what the girl had told us mere moments before we found ourselves in this situation. Lee was slipping through Thea's tight grasp, realizing what she should have already known bit by bit, and Thea didn't even know it.

**Aw! Sadness. Okay, so there is good news and bad news.**

** Bad news: the story, as you might have noticed, is coming to a close. :( That's why this chapter is a bit shorter than usual. I want it to last.**

** Good news: There might be a sequel! Wouldn't Alan and Pez be just the cutest couple? *fyi, it wouldn't been in the current time. They would all be much older. **

** What do you think?**

**Okay!**

**ALAN GRACE**

**AVALEE GRACE**

**ELLA GRACE**

**NATHAN GRACE**

**DAVID JANE**

**NICO DI ANGELO**

**CASS HART**

**KARSON MAVERICK**

**OR SOMEONE TOTALLY DIFFERENT???**

**p.s. If I get enough reviews, maybe Cass will confess her love for Nathan next chapter...or maybe you'll get a little Narson action...**

**REVIEW!**


	16. Breakfast Burritos and Lunch Food

a.n. Um...so...yeah...:)

I'm kind of character crazy. Whenever I get writers block, someone new pops up. So, someone new is popping up. YAY! Fun fun.

_Karson Maverick, daughter of Apollo_

Each time I heard the scissors snip, I cringed. 

Three hours after our reunion with Alan and Avalee and a long rant about Thea's genius plan (courtesy of Thea herself), I was sitting in the barber's chair, Ella on my right, a fidgeting Avalee on my left. Cass sat in the chair behind me. We were being "treated" to a haircut.

"My workers won't look like heathens." Thea laughed.

"Heathens?" Ella asked, laughing. I surged with rage. How could she smile at a time like this? How could _anyone_ do _anything_ positive?

"Like that caveman from the Gieco commercial," Avalee said, clapping her hands together. Cass laughed dryly and the woman doing her hair shushed her.

_Snip, snip, snip._ "You have beautiful hair, you know?" said the hair lady, chomping on bubblegum.

_Then why are you cutting it off? _Needless to say, I am not fond of haircuts.

I saw Cass looking at me in the mirror, her hair freshly cut just to her shoulders. She looked younger, her strong jaw and cheekbones softening; her hair was curlier, healthier looking. She tugged on one curl, like she did when she was nervous. Two gray-blue eyes looked through me, sad, sorrowful.

Ella's hair had been trimmed, her wavy black hair to her shoulder blades, blunt bangs just to her eyebrows. Avalee hadn't let them touch her hair. Nathan, Nico, and Alan stood on the side.

I turned around and looked at Cass. "Well?" I asked.

Cass took a deep breath, licked her lips, and continued tugging on her short hair. "I'm...so, so, _so_ sorry." She didn't look me in the eye. I knew that she meant it. I was mad at her, but I had been stupid enough to follow.

"It's fine," I said, my voice hard. I swatted the hairdresser's hand away from my head. As far as I was concerned, my hair was _done._

"No, it's...um...kind of not." She bit her lip. _Tug, tug, tug._

"This is probably the last time you'll see me for...a while. Any of you. I just wanted to make sure..."

I stared at her. Ella put her hand on my shoulder. "You all are too dark and depressing. I got a free haircut! Boom! Silver lining!" She smiled at us all, but I was too upset to see the corner of her mouth quiver.

Cass smiled at her. I realized that, really, she was only apologizing to me. Nathan and Ella and the twins, they would be okay. They were always okay. And Nico had been through tons of stuff like this. I was the only one sitting in that barber chair, seething. I blew out air. "It's fine," I told her, meaning it a little more.

She drew a little closer. "I won't be the only one you don't see," she said slowly. "Thea, she won't let you see a few people. For you, it'll probably be Nico. I know her well enough," she added dryly, "to realize that much. Just...hang on, okay?"

I looked at Nico out of the corner of my eye, and my heart sank a little deeper. He looked at me too, and we just sat there for a second. I didn't say anything else, to anyone. But Cass was right.

That was the last time I saw either of them for a long time.

*****

I do _not_ like laundry duty. Never have, never will.

This was amplified by the fact it was not even my mess. Giants have giant underwear, and also, apparently, giant hygienic issues. If you had smelt that stuff, you would agree. It was worse than a breakfast burrito. Actually, part of it _was_ a breakfast burrito. Guess what I found in someone's pocket?

It had been five days since we had been sitting in the barbershop. I was the only one not allowed to see Nico and he wasn't allowed to see me. Nathan and Ella weren't allowed to see the twins, and as far as I knew, _nobody_ had seen Cass. It was like she had been cleaned from the surface of the earth. I tried not to think about her. It gave me shivers, knowing what Thea had done. If, five years ago, she had been okay with making a seventh grader run through the woods for three days straight with an injury from a pack of monsters after stealing her sister, well, who knew what she was capable of after a few years of college education.

My guess...quite a lot.

The crazy amount of laundry was daunting. Mountains and mountains of it piled as far as the eye could see, all smelly, with interesting mutations and moldy leftovers just waiting to be found in pockets. On the plus side, I made about twenty buck from change, although I had to disinfect it all later.

Nathan sat across from me, folding automatically. I had never talked to him too much. But the sheer amount of clothes he had folded in such a short time made my jaw drop. "What _are_ you?"

He smiled. "Mr. Mom." He folded a pair of giant briefs and winced. "Someone needs to introduce these guys to boxers."

I didn't laugh, but I smiled grudgingly. Something moved out of the corner of my eye in the doorway. For a second, I thought it was Ella, coming back with more clothes (insert horror music here) but I saw a flash of dark hair, darker than Ella's, almost purple. "Lee," I sighed beneath my breath. 

Nathan smiled. "She still following you?"

Lee Bell/Hart had been my constant, ninja-like shadow ever since the second day I had been "working" and stomped on the foot of a giant when he tried to take me sandwich. She seemed to think I had no idea.

"Play along," Ella had told me, laughing silently. "It'll make her feel _so_ special. I used to do ninja rolls in the hallway when I was younger. I wish I had my chance to stalk someone."

I said nothing. 

Sighing, I continued folding clothes. "I should have just given the big idiot my sandwich."  
"I'm worried," Nathan confided. "About Lee, I mean. Well, a lot of stuff. But Lee specifically."

"Why?" I asked, concentrating on the flannel lumberjack shirt that you could have fit comfortable on my dad's car.

"She isn't supposed to be down here, where all the _stuff_ is going on. She has to have noticed the guys three times her size. Thea'll pummel her." He grimaced at a stain on a shirtsleeve. "Oh my gods. Is that _blood_?"

I was surprised when I saw him in the room that morning. Thea had been keeping both eyes on him since we got there. He was like her personal bodyguard. She went out of her way to make him comfortable, gave him anything he wanted. Thea was trying to win him over, I guess. She wasn't getting anywhere. The only thing he asked for was to see the twins. Not surprisingly, that made Thea even more determined. I asked him about it.

"It's not so hard." He shrugged. "I just have to make sure I don't get too angry and start beating her to a pulp whenever I see her face. Oh, and I have to fight a bunch of giants. That's always interesting."

"For _what_?"

"Entertainment, I guess. For her. It's terrible for me." Nathan laughed. "Saw some body builder with two heads the other day. Just about peed my pants."

"And you _won?_" I asked in awe.

"Do I look dead to you?"

Ella, walking in, rapped him on the head with her knuckles. "Rather zombie-like if you ask me. Are you getting enough sleep?" She threw down a pile of clean clothes. Then, whistling, she stuffed a pile of dirty clothes in the washing machine. 

I stared at her stiffly, something she didn't fail to notice.

"Are you okay?" Ella asked, eyes wide, smile on her face.

I took a deep breath. Then I snapped. I've always been an aggressive, temperamental person. I'll be the first to tell you. Stress didn't bode well with my moods. Nathan was somewhat tolerable, because sometimes I would catch him looking out the window, and I would know he was upset. But Ella... "You know what? No, I'm not okay. And if you were normal, you wouldn't be okay either!" I stood up. "You're over there, whistling. Everything is crumbling and I can't see the one person who will make it somewhat better." I huffed, thinking of Nico.

"So, what are you telling me?" she asked, smiling faintly, the smile not reaching the black abyss of her eyes. "Do you want David to be here? Would _that_ make you feel better? Having me suffer like you?" I knew, because I had figured, that the mysterious boyfriend of Ella's was David. I knew.

I looked her in the eyes, steely faced, not saying anything. That was exactly what my dark, selfish heart wanted. I knew that was what I was as soon as she started talking, selfish, and I thought about what I was doing. I thought about how I was hurting her. But just then, I didn't care.

"Well, you know what? I _am_ suffering. I like David. A _lot._ I might ever love him, eventually." Ella took a shaking breath. "But I _know_ I love my family. And that's whom she has. That evil witch that I want to tear piece from piece with my bear hands. My sister, my brothers. I can't see Alan or Avalee either. And unlike you, I've known them for longer than a few months! You don't see me yelling at you because Dilly isn't here."

I winced. Dilly was my mortal half-brother. He was twelve.

"Ella-bug," Nathan said slowly. Her smile had melted.

"I sick of it Nathan," she told him, her eyes stony. Then they melted too, turning into a puddle of tears. "Everyone thinking we're always okay. That you, and I, and the twins can smile and laugh and not be hurting. I'm hurting, I really am. Why can't my idiot of a best friend see that?" Ella took one more shuddering breath, shoved another pile of nasty clothes in the laundry, and walked out of the room without another word.

I heard Nathan take a breath, starting to say something.

"Don't," I told him. "Just don't."

I extracted another fifty cents from a pocket and began folding again.

*****

That was a terrible day. My fight with Ella was reason #1. My first official meeting with Sophie Mayes was #2.

Lee was still following me like a second dark, annoying shadow that I was constantly worried for. Thinking back, I should have just yelled at her. It might have made everything easier, running from this new world that her sister revolved around.

In fact, when she tripped, falling on the floor behind me, I almost did. But something stopped me. And that would be to the two storm gray eyes out of the gloom, smiling a silent smile, looking from me to Lee and back to me again.

"Get out of here Lee," I whispered behind me. I think she heard, because she stood up and skittered away back the way she had come. I walked away without blinking, pretending not to notice with two gray pricks of light followed me down the hallway. 

I didn't see the rest of her until lunch break. "Hola, chica." She sat down on my right. A boy sat down on my left. "No ones sitting here, right?"

"Not anymore," I told her, sighing. Imaginary friends are so easily lost. Phillip would _not_ be happy. I looked at the boy. He was tall, thin, with tan skin. He was Asian. Japanese, maybe. The girl was what I was worried about. Her hair was honey blonde, her skin dark, like a California girl. Her eyes were gray like storm cloud. I knew she was the one who had seen.

"This is Yuki Hayashi," she said, pointing to him. He waved, smiling widely, like he was already laughing at me. "When he gets mad, he starts yelling at you in Japanese. When he just feels like yelling, he curses in Thai."

"Interesting," I said, trying to focus on the spaghetti on my plate.

"I, however, am the more awesome one!" she informed me. "Sophie Mayes. Pleased to meet you."

"It's mutual, I'm sure," I said slowly. "What do you want?"

"Well, aren't we very direct!" Sophie grinned wolfishly. "See, I know you've been stalked by one Lieve Bell."

"I know you know. I saw you in the hallway." 

"Aw, I wanted you to ask. Way to ruin my fun." In a more sarcastic way, she reminded me of Ella. "Anyway, so there I was, wondering, "Now, what would Lee Bell, sister of the notorious Panthea Bell, destroyer of all hope and happiness, be doing following a newbie?" Of course, everyone knows that she has, or _had_, no clue about anything Olympian."

"Lee isn't Thea's sister," I said numbly, not thinking about the consequences. "Her sister is a girl named Cass, who, as far as I know, is in the dungeons." I hadn't been serious when I said "dungeons."

Sophie either wasn't surprised or hid it spectacularly well. "Oh. I went there once. Terrible. I beat up an instructor." Sophie made a face. "Of course, that's what got me a spot on the Chair. So they punished me...and then rewarded me for the same thing. I ask you, does that make any sense, whatsoever?"

"Chair?" I asked.

"It's got a real name, but as far as I know, it's something unpronounceable. It's like a council of sorts. Thea is a total Olympus wannabe." Sophie rolled her eyes and threw a stick of gum in her mouth, already finished with her own meal. "She has this council, right? Like, they do everything. Only the best and the brightest are on there. Never figured they'd pay me any attention. I'm, like, a complete failure to my mom."

"What, are you an idiot?" I asked simply. I figured her mom was Athena. I was right.

"Nope!" she blew a bubble. "My IQ is 153, thank you very much. But I 'lack motivation'," she scoffed, using finger quotes. "That's because I hate it here, duh. Don't need no therapist telling me that."

"Look," I told her sharply. "Thea has be ruining my life indirectly for the past sixth months. Now that I'm face to face with the royal witch herself, I don't need any of her workers up in my business next to her."

Sophie blew a bubble and let it pop. "Harsh," Yuki whistled.

"Look, Karson, isn't it?" she said. "Contrary to popular belief, not everyone here is a prick. I got taken from my home, same as you. Do you have a family? A sibling?"

I nodded. 

"I've got two, one older, one younger, not to mention my dad. They either think I've abandoned them, or that I'm dead. I haven't seen them since I got picked up and put here. Do you know how long I've been here?" Sophie held up three fingers. I thought she meant months. "Three years," she said, as if she could read my mind. "Three years since I've seen or heard from my family. She's been messing with you for five days. I think I win."

"Karson," Yuki started, speaking for the first time. His voice was soft, and he spoke carefully, like he still hadn't gotten used to speaking English. "People here hate her too. If you ever feel like stirring up trouble, we'll back you up."

I stared at them. I saw Nathan and Ella, walking in, watching from the corner. "What are you implying?"

"Yuki and I have both been here a long time. You have no idea how long. The group you came with, Nathan, Nico, Avalee, Alan, Ella, and you, are already known for being strong." Sophie looked at me, grinning that wolfish grin. "We've been stirring up some secret trouble. Would you like to help?"

"Like, a rebellion?" 

"Eventually, yeah." Sophie blew another bubble. "Right now, we need more people. People with high rankings. All of our...well, supporters, I guess. Most of our supporters are nameless troops, people that don't have much weight. Not including myself, we've got one other person in the Chairs, Evan. We've got twenty in the mid-levels, and then fifty in the troops."

"So want me to...be in the Chairs?"

"Some people get special invitations," Yuki informed me. "That boy, Nathan, that Thea has her eye on? He should be getting one any day now. If you think he's trustworthy—" I didn't pause before shaking my head "yes"—"Than he should accept. But, without an invitation, there are...other, more creative ways."

"Like...?" Last year, I would have punched these kids and moved on. "What?"

"You've got to beat a Chair at something," Sophie told me.

"Anything? If I beat up a guy at horseshoes, I would be in the council?" That sounded helplessly stupid.

"Nope, not anything. Each of us, we're good at something. Like me, for instance, I'm a genius." Sophie smiled.

"And oh so modest." 

"Shut up, Yuki." She punched him before continuing. "So, someone would have to beat me at some IQ test or something to get my spot, and who is going to do that?"

"So, if I wanted to beat someone at archery, who would it be?" I asked.

"Foxface!" Yuki and Sophie sang in unison.

"She's a total rat, but she is a beat with a bow." Sophie shook her head. "Maybe you should do something else."

"No, I'll try it. I'm not good at anything but archery." I thought back to camp.

"You will, then?" Sophie clapped. "Yay!"

"How adverse are you to dangerous situations?" Yuki asked.

"As long as, in the end, I can punch Thea in the face, I will happily do whatever you say."

"Excellent."

"This thing has been years in the making," Sophie said. "It'll be now or never, and we most certainly will take the first option. In less than three months, either Thea will be on her knees, or we'll be joining your friend in the Pits of Doom."

I looked at Nathan, and I saw his eyebrows shoot up. Leave it to those two to hear everything.

"About her," I started. "She would be a good ally. A great one, actually."

"I'll take care of it." Yuki stood up. "And that Nico kid. If you want, I might be able to make something happen. If we can get to him to talk, we can get that group of yours together. Or, _I_ can, anyway." He smiled, waved, and walked away.

"Needless to say, don't tell anyone. We'll talk to your friends ourselves, the ones who haven't overheard, anyway." When Sophie said it, she didn't look away from me, but I saw Nathan and Ella burst into fits of laughter in their corner. "Are you sure you're okay with this?"

"I've got my own messes to clean up. I can't do that in a cell."

**:)**

**Okay!**

**ALAN GRACE**

**AVALEE GRACE**

**ELLA GRACE**

**NATHAN GRACE**

**DAVID JANE**

**NICO DI ANGELO**

**CASS HART**

**KARSON MAVERICK**

**OR SOMEONE TOTALLY DIFFERENT???**

**p.s. If you answer the following questions in a review, you are allowed ONE question from me about anything in this story or future stories. If it's something I can't answer (like, I don't know the answer) you are allowed another one. Ready?**

**What do you think of a sequel?**

**Who is your favorite character?**

**What do you want to see happen?**

**REVIEW!**


	17. Half Dead and Dying

a.n. Okay. It was Yuki, only one or two for Cass. Let's see how this works. Can't say I've quite figured out Yuki either, but aren't those characters just the best?

_**Yuki Hayashi**_

__Only one more person left to talk to (thank goodness).

"Sophie!" I cried, running over to her. She took a cherry red lollypop out of her mouth and grinned with red-stained lips.

"Just got back from talking to the elder Grace siblings." We started walking down the hallway.

"How'd that go?" I quickly fell into pace with her.

"Weirdoes," she confided. "And I think _I'm _weird, but believe me, they take the cake."

I thought about my talk with the twins. "How so?"

"When I sat down, they were talking about Ninja vs. Pirates. And, you know, I get that. It's important. Somehow they got onto the Google vs. Yahoo topic and the older one, Nathan, said Bing should be included. But Ella said that wasn't allowed because Bing was like the Switzerland of search engines and would remain neutral for all of time. Then they started talking about chocolate."

"Hmmm."

"Yes. And this happened in, like, two minutes. And then, all of a sudden, Nathan turns to me and asks me about my favorite chocolate bar. I said Kit Kat, or course, although chocolate is bad for my complexion."

"Any rebuttal?" I asked, only half-joking. I knew all about those people. The only things they ever seriously debated were stupid things. They were already half-famous among the lower levels of the Company.

"Then we debated about Kit Kat vs. Take Five. Kit Kat totally won." Sophie sucked on her lollypop again before continuing. "Only then did we begin talking about the topic at hand." Laughing, she shook her head. "How'd it go with the twins?"

"You think those two are weird? They've got nothing on Alan and Avalee." I blew hair from my eyes. "They had this huge group of people around them. I was really confused. When I got closer, I realized they were giving them _math_ problems. They got everything right without a calculator and it never took more than a minute and a half. I know this because some geek in glasses was holding a stopwatch. It was like a Nerd-a-thon."

"Give me an example." Sophie's eyes had narrowed. She was so self-conscious about her intelligence. Looking at her sparkling, sequined purple top, I decided it was about the only thing she cared what other people thought about.

"It's not like I remember. I was too much in _awe._ My mouth was open for a full five minutes."

"They're what, like, five?"

"Six," I corrected.

She flashed me a look. "It certainly explains why Thea wanted them so badly."

"Actually, they were able to shine a little more light on that, too." I stopped and leaned against the wall. Sophie sat on the seat on the windowsill. "You remember how that Karson girl said that some girl named Cass was Lee's real sister?"

"Yep. I didn't believe her. Are you saying she isn't crazy?" Sophie looked bored. "I mean, I know this girl Cass is in the dungeons as we speak, thanks to my little information net..."

"It's true," I confirmed. "All of it. Like, five years ago, Cass and Thea were on a mission to spy in Kronos' army together. But Thea turned her in for some reason, and when Cass went to confront her, Thea injured her to slow her down and told her she took her sister for her own. Ever since, Cass has been working for some organization trying to find her."

Sophie whistled. "How long has she known the Grace's?"

"A few months, maybe. Before winter break, that's all I know."

"Any one on the outside that might be looking for her?"

"Not sure," I told her, squinting. "From what I could figure, she had two teammates, brother and sister. The brother is at the Grace's house with a boy named David, undetermined, and the girl is at the camp. She also has a powerful half-brother. The two elder Grace kids have a pair of sister's at camp in the Nyx cabin, and Karson has the Apollo cabin, but she was never well known."

"You know quite a bit, Mr. Yuki." She grinned.

"Not nearly enough," I told her.

"Oh, that's right. Little Yuki gets antsy when he doesn't know absolutely everything."

"Shut up. We have one more guy to hit." We both ran into the training room. We had managed to get Karson at lunch the day before, and we split up to get the other four during the free period. But we hadn't managed to fit Nico into the mix during free time.

The place was literally littered with people, armor, weapons, and odor. Floating in the air like a toxic cloud, you could almost see the black mist of death and gym socks swirling around the heads of everyone. Not that anyone who would have cared was in there, except maybe Sophie. She scrunched up her face and walked in without a word while I silently laughed at her.

"What up, yo?" I asked with my pitiful gangta' impression. Icy black eyes looked at me, but they lit up with amusement at my attempts.

"Nothin' much, home skillet," he said sarcastically, taking off a helmet. He was tall, although a bit shorter than me, with messy brown hair, black eyes, and a sarcastic disposition. "Who're you?"

"I'm Yuki."

"He curses in Thai!" Sophie told him, looking accomplished. I wished she had never found out. She always introduced me like that. Some people find that strange.

"This is Sophie. She's an annoying, noisy genius. Ignore her." Sophie flashed me another look, which I, taking my own advice, ignored. I was used to them anyway. "We're here to offer you a deal."

"I've done deals before. Is this a good deal, or a not-so-good one?" He didn't smile, just looked at the black sword in his hand. "I don't like messing with idiots anyway."

Sophie elbowed me. "Stygian Iron sword, cooled in the river Styx," I belted, rubbing my side. "Son of Hades, god of the Underworld, and Maria di Angelo. Sister died in a battle with a defective Talos. Worked with King Minos for a while, but defeated him in the end. Fought with Perseus Jackson in the battle against the Titans. Can shadow travel and summon the dead. Convinced Hades into action against Typhon...Did I miss anything important?" I turned from Nico's awed stare and looked at Sophie. "You have bony elbows."

"Well, it worked, so who cares?"

"My bruised rib. I'm pretty sure it cares."

"It's a bone, it can't care."

"Who _are_ you crazy people?" Nico interjected.

"You think _we're_ crazy when you've been hanging out with the Grace's for ages?" Sophie asked. "Kit Kat's totally _are_ the best candy bar!"

"Just listen," I told him. Sophie and I went through everything we could think of, just the same as every other conspiratorial conversation we had ever had. He took significantly less convincing than I thought he would.

"Sure. Sounds like fun," he said dryly. He looked at me. "You'll really get Cass out of wherever she is?"

"Yup."

"What will happen after that?"

"A _lot_."

"That's descriptive." He rolled his eyes, then grinned wolfishly. "Be careful with her, Asian dude. She packs a punch, that's for sure. She'll probably put a whole in your head before she realizes you're there to help."

"I've dealt with worse," I said, shrugging.

"You better help her, or Nathan will beat you," Nico informed me. "They have this thing where they fight non-stop, but they're both just flirts with a sword."

"Kind of like you and Karson, huh?" Sophie interjected, suddenly interesting despite the smell around her head.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Your face is turning red."

"Leave me alone, woman!" he muttered, his ears bright pink.

"Psh. I'm a genius, you know."

"Just imagine what my daily life is like," I told him, clicking my tongue. "At least she isn't flaunting her IQ? What was it again? Oh, yeah. 153. How could I forget when you say it _every time you open your mouth?_"

"You talked to Alan and Avalee yet? That'll sober you up." Nico laughed. He looked at Sophie strangely. :you all talke to Karson right? Is she...you know...okay?"

I thought Sophie would make some romantic retort, but, to my undetectable surprise, she smiled. "She's doing as well as one would suspect."

"I heard that Karson was planning on doing some archery competition with one of the Chair members," he started again, looking relieved.

He was well informed.

"Yep," Sophie confirmed.

"And you guys convinced her to do so?"

"'Do so'? Seriously? What are you, British?" Sophie teased.

"Well, I was born a long time ago." He stuck his sword in the ground and leaned against it. "Like, at least 60 years ago. Sometimes old habits pop up."

"Sorry, you don't look that old," I pointed out.

"That must have been one heck of a plastic surgery," Sophie added, snickering.

"Oh, it was," Nico replied seriously. Then he grinned. "Let's face it, I'm certainly not the strangest thing you've ever seen."

"Touché."

"Sophie, what time is it?" I asked suddenly.

"A little after one, why?" she said with a glance at her watch. No one wears those anymore, because everyone has cell phones. But since we demigods can't have cell phones, we need to have some kind of way to keep track.

"And the archery thing is today at five?"

She nodded, blonde hair bobbing.

I cursed in Thai. "I've got to get that Cass girl out before then."

"Why?" Nico asked, eyebrows knit.

"She'll want to se it, right?" I said, half-running backwards.

"He's not such a bad guy, right?" I heard Sophie saying behind me. Grimacing, I didn't try to hear his reply if he gave one.

I stopped running as soon as I made it to the main hallways. From the outside, the house looks huge. That was just what was above ground, and even that's roughly a third, maybe less, of this buildings real girth. Below that, underneath the earth are what seem to be miles of hallways and rooms and secret doors you aren't to open. Under that, you've got training rooms made to look like outside and three or four floors of bedrooms and work rooms and armories below that.

And beneath _that_, you've got the dungeons.

Those who have an intense fear or the dark (known to some as nyctophobia) beware.

The walls are like tunnels dug into the earth, with cells dug from that like the veins of a leaf. Metal bars keep anyone from getting in. Or out. Not those things would stop me. They were pitiful.

In the cover of darkness, I hanged from my normal clothes in the customary black shirt and hat. I felt like a robber, but it would do.

Most people don't know what I do in my free time. Answer is, stuff like this. I free people from the dungeons (not often), smuggle in outside goods (mostly soda, a definite necessity for any ADHD teenager), and get people's letters from point A to point B. I work with the people while Sophie works with the numbers. We completely run this whole operation, and when it started, it was just the two of us. That's changed.

"Level G, cell 274..." I hummed under my breath. I'd never been that far down. The level and cell number corresponded with what you did, or how much Thea hates you. Once you got past a certain point, the people you see in the cell start getting thinner, sadder, more depressed, dirtier...Once you got past _that,_ you got people bleeding on the floor.

I nodded to the guard, whom I knew. His name was Ritchie. He knew I was coming. He moved away, impassive, from the barred door. I patted him on the head like a dog. I saw the barest trace of a smile. Good ole' Ritchie. I looked through the bars into the darkness.

Cass was a mess.

She sat, huddled in the corner with her knees pulled up to her chest, staring straight ahead. Her barefeet looked raw, her knuckles bloody, and I saw blood marks on the wall. Someone had been punching things.

Her curly hair had been pulled up out her face hastily, like she was frustrated with it, which she probably had been, but strand of spiral black curls hung in her face. Her skin was dirty, but I could see how pale it was.

I knocked on the wall next to the bars.

She reacted so fast I couldn't even register she was up. In seconds she was on her feet, pointing a fork between my eyes, her steely sea-green eyes focused solely on me. Her breath was hard, like she was anticipating something, or maybe she expected me to bite her. That's what I thought _she_ was going to do.

"Let's play nice now," I told her, pushing the prongs of the fork back through the cage.

"Leave me alone," she told me, so slowly each one was practically its own sentence.

"So you _don't _want out? I went through all of this for nothing, didn't I? How depressing." I leaned against the dirt wall.

"Who _are_ you?" Cass asked after a second.

"Asian," was my reply. I smiled. "Are you, or are you not, Cassandra Hart?"

She said nothing, made no move to either confirm or deny the fact. I took it as a "yes".

Suddenly, she looked very tired and weak, like she was starved, and I'm pretty sure she was thinner than what was healthy. She had a bruise under her right eye. Her fingernail were broken with chips of old blue nail polish, and half of the sleeve of her shirt was cut off, revealing a gruesome-looking half-healed wound and half a dozen tiny burn marks, like someone had poked her with a cigarette.

"Level G..." I said with an appreciative whistle. "I would absolutely love to find out what you did to get all the way down here."

Her grimace looked bitter. "I'll tell you when I find out." She stood up straighter, lowering her fork, and I got a good look at her. She was wearing a gray sweatshirt, which was ripped and slightly damp. Her jeans were dark, or once had been, with holes in the knees that I was pretty sure were authentic. There were some dark blotches around her torso and shoulders, as well as along the backside of her knees. "Who are you?" she asked again.

"My name is Yuki," I whispered, just in case anyone heard. "Me and a bunch of other people are aiming for a rebellion, since, after all, we're all stuck here the same as you, alongside giants we should be killing instead of playing maid with. I had laundry duty last Wednesday. Yuck."

"How long have I been here?"

"A couple weeks, maybe. Oh, by the way," I said. "That friend of yours, Karson? She's about to take on Foxface in an archery contest. I thought you might like to see it."

Cass looked momentarily surprised. "Even if you _can _get me out, which I doubt, I wouldn't be able to stay."

"You, my soon-to-be-companion, are underestimating my extensive skills and could not be more wrong." I jingled the keys in front of her face, and her eyes stared at them hungrily. "But, before that,"—I thrust a wad of clothes into her hands through the bars—"Put those on."

"What are they?" she asked warily.

"The clothes all the new trainees wear," I told her. "I've got about 67 people willing to agree to seeing you around." I counted off facts on my fingers. "You're name is Juliet Lewis, but you go by Jules. You joined freely because your _younger _brother was killed on a quest and you think it's camps fault. You are undetermined, but you're the kid of some minor god. You have a hard time with a sword or knives, but you're average at basically everything else. Your mom died from illness that you can't pronounce, and you've been here for one month next Friday."

She looked at me, and I could tell she was mildly impressed. "What do I like for breakfast?"

"Sausage, but you hate oatmeal." I pointed a warning finger at her. "You aren't to do _anything_ that will attract attention. Do not do anything better than expected. Learn new things at the average pace. I don't care how unaverage you are."

"Is unaverage a word?"

I continued. "You stay out of everybody's way, got that? Don't go picking fights."

"I promise I won't beat up my instructor like I did when I was a Cleaner," she said sincerely. Then she rolled her eyes. "I've been doing this for five years. I won't slip, I promise." I turned my back as she started changing. Once she was done, I unlocked the door.

Stepping out, she retied her hair into a neat braid, patted her cheeks, and dusted off her new clothes. She helped me and Ritchie position him so it looked as though he had gotten too close to the cell and Cass had gotten a hold of his keys. She even knocked him out (at his consent) for good measure.

"Stay out of trouble Cass, won't you?" I called after her as she ran up the steps.

She glared at me over her shoulder. "Who is Cass, you idiot?" Her brow was furrowed like she was agitated. She bounded up the steps.

"That girl is good," I admitted, walking after her slowly. I took my time changing back and walked over to where I said I would meet Sophie.

She ran over just as I had arrived. "Did you do it?" she asked breathlessly.

"Don't I always?" I asked, looking around to make sure no one would hear. "Thea is twice the witch I took her as."

"I didn't think that was possible," Sophie said, catching her lost breath.

"That Cass girl was left, half-dead and dying, on Level _G!_ She doesn't even know what she did." I spat in disgust.

"She was probably just in the wrong place at the wrong time." We started walking to the arena.

"And Lee?"

"I really don't see how taking her was necessary," Sophie admitted.

"She did it just to make Cass feel terrible." I resisted spitting again.

"Well, you helped her, didn't you?" she said logically. "And now, we have an epic battle to see. That should cheer you up, right?" She laughed.

I smiled back. "I'll be much more cheerful when Thea has a dent in her head."

"Won't we all?" Sophie sighed. Then she laughed again. "But it will happen soon," she said decisively. "The wheels are turning, can't you feel it? This new group is exactly what we need."

"But, I wonder, how many will be willing to fight it comes down to it?" I thought out loud.

Sophie grabbed my arm. "Everyone!" She looked at me sympathetically. "No one is going to leave you like your sister did."

"What sister?" I remarked dryly.

Sophie looked at me for a second. "It will be okay," she said seriously, which was uncharacteristic. Before I could reply, she pulled me into the arena, in the false light of the underground, and into the tangled mess we had made.

**Right! So...sorry I was so long. SOOO much has happened. I'm moving to Missouri. How sad. :( No offense to Missourians...or is it Missourites? Missoureans? Blah. :0**

** What did you think? **

** So...Karson or Lee?**


	18. Difference Between Knowing and Believing

a.n. Thanks to all who reviewed or alerted or favorite...ed...

So, I've thought a lot about this sequel. I might try to do two stories at once (cause we all know how much I suck at such things).

_Lee Bell, Undetermined_

This whole thing is just too strange.

I knew it was real. I knew my sister was a monster. I knew that she hurt people and broke them to get them to do what she wanted. In the darkest depths of my heart, I had always really known those things. Now I had proof. And I really _knew._

I just couldn't _believe._

At first, the giants didn't register in my ten-year-old, very determined head. I was too busy following Karson or Ella or the twins. I had even thought I was doing a good job. But after I had fallen and Karson told me to leave, I booked it out of there, running, tripping over my feet. I've always liked to run.

Guess who I ran into?

A short, blonde, previously British child. "Lee?" Alan had hardly stumbled, even though I had run smack dab into him. He was like a wall. "Avalee, it's Lee. Lee!"

Avalee looked out from behind the statue she was hiding behind. The look in her eyes was a new one. "Lee?" her voice quivered. But when she registered it was I, her eyes twinkled just like they usually did. "You scared me!" she said, huffing. "Like, half to death."

Alan looked at his sister, a little more than worried. "She's afraid of the giants," he whispered into my ear, deathly quiet. Avalee didn't seem to notice. Then again, Avalee didn't seem the type to let a height difference make her afraid.

Alan paused, then turned those piercing blue eyes at me. "What are you doing down here?" Avalee put her hands behind her back, leaning over just a little like she was waiting for an appropriate answer. She didn't look abnormal anymore.

"I got...lost." Lame. 

"Indeed," Alan murmured. It was strange hearing them without their accent...even if it was fake.

"You shouldn't be down here," Avalee scolded. "You know that, if nothing else."

"I know more than you think..." I told them softly.

"We figured," Alan said.

"The only thing we _don't_ know is the extent of your knowledge."

"The...what?"

"You know things," Alan simplified. "Tell us what you know."

"I know that you're not British."

"Don't be difficult," Alan sighed. He sounded like an agitated father. "What do you know?"

"I know you're not normal. At _all._"

"But, Lee, silly," Avalee said, smiling, "you're not normal either!" She said it like it was a wonderful thing, clapping.

I stared at her blankly.

She grabbed my arm, her eyes large and childlike. I remembered she was a child. Like me. Younger than me. They both were. How did they handle being little more than imprisoned underground? "Everyone here! None of them are normal. Alan and I, Nathan and Ella, Karson, Nico, Cass. That kid from Athena and the Asian!" she said. "Thea, and you."

"Thea?" _Me?_

Alan smiled kindly. "I suppose it is harder when you haven't grown up knowing it. A friend of ours just found out lately, and he is in high school. I imagine it was quite a shock."

"_What_ was?" I shouted, frustrated. "Stop being so..."

"Allusive?" offered Avalee.

"Foreboding?" offered Alan.

"Odd," I concluded.

Giggling, Avalee took my hand. "Come! Come!" she started pulling me down the hallway.

Alan, worried, said something in a language I couldn't understand.

Avalee, still giggling, responded in kind. Alan seemed to relax.

I just started worrying more.

We went through huge wooden doors. The room was gigantic. But what really caught my eye were the miles (or what seemed to be) of statues. Beautiful woman with long hair and long dresses, men ready for battle, captured in stone. Some held spears of swords, some held plants and flowers, and some had animals resting at their feet. The line seemed endless.

"What are they?"

"The Greek gods and goddesses." Alan looked around. "In other words..."

"Our parents. You're parents." Avalee leaned over a bit again.

"What?" I stared at her blankly again.

"Greek gods and goddesses. They're were, and still are, alive and real, just as you and I are. And they have kids! Like you, and like me! And those kids fight the monsters and become heroes!" Avalee said this all very fast.

I turned and walked out. "You are crazy or messing with me. I don't appreciate it."

Alan grabbed me by my left hand, Avalee by my right. "We promise. We double, pinky, super promise. This is the truth." Avalee looked at me pleadingly.

"You have seen monsters, the giants, already. How else do you explain men with six hands and two heads and other such anomalies?"

He got me there.

"Where's _your _parents then?"

"Our mom is dead," Avalee said softly. "We weren't lying about that."

"And your father?"

"Our father," Alan said slowly, "seems to have been left out of this plethora of mythical figures." He didn't sound bitter, just hurt, and a little sad maybe, too.

I looked at him, wishing to pat him on the back or something. Then I remembered he was lying. "Whatever." I walked out again.

"Wait!" Avalee shouted. "Come, you like Karson, don't you?" I didn't reply. "She is having a competition today. It is about to start. Come with us, you will see."

Like an idiot, I agreed. But looking back, I'm glad I did.

*****

"Wow."

The place was huge. And the people were huge too. Giants with numerous (what had Alan called them?) anomalies stood in the stands alongside smaller, normal looking people. It was like a Roman coliseum I had seen in a movie.

"Come on, slowpoke." Alan and Avalee bounded down the steps, taking a seat in the front row, close to the ground. It wasn't high up. The seats they had chosen were about as far away from the field (what is a field?) as front row seats were away from a baseball diamond.

"Where's Karson?" I asked, following reluctantly.

"Down there," Avalee said.

Obviously.

"Hey," I heard behind. Avalee and Alan turned around, looking hopeful, but their faces fell.

"Sorry, Nico. I thought you were Nathan." Alan looked at his knees.

The boy ruffled his hair. "It's okay. I understand. It's cruel to keep you guys away from him and Ella. You're just kids, right? No matter how strange you are." He sat down. He noticed me. "Lee." He didn't seem surprised.

I gave him an awkward little wave.

"Karson is really going to do it, isn't she?" A blonde girl accompanied by a tall Asian boy sat down next to him. The blonde girl was wearing something purple and sparkly. The boy looked slightly accomplished. I didn't recognize either of them. "Hi," the girl said cheerfully, waving.

One more awkward wave from me.

"You must be Lee. We were expecting you," she told me. "I'm Sophie, daughter of Athena. This is Yuki." The boy beside her waved.

"Athena?" I said slowly.

"I thought the twins would have explained it..." Yuki said. Sophie introduced herself to the two of them too.

"We tried. She is in denial," Alan told us.

"Well, that will be fixed sooner of later." Sophie grinned wickedly and turned to the arena. "It's starting."

"I feel...bad for her. We got her into this, didn't we?" Yukie shook his head sympathetically.

Nico snorted. "You haven't seen her shoot, have you?" He looked at the arena. "I feel worse for Foxface."

_Foxface?_

Seeing my face, Sophie, half smiling, pointed to the stadium.

She did indeed look like a fox. Her entire face looked pointed, her chin, her cheekbones, her nose. She had really red hair cut angularly around her shoulders. I'm pretty sure it was dyed. I've never died mine, but I knew it when I saw it. I had cable.

"This should be interesting." I looked over and saw Yuki smiling strangely, like he was enjoying watching it. I pegged him as someone who would watch a fight with joy.

"Why is that?" Avalee asked, turning around in her seat to look over at him.

"Foxface and Karson are sisters."

"_What?_" I was shocked.

"Half-sisters," Nico clarified. He looked more interested, but he didn't seem as surprised as I was. "They're both kids of Apollo, right?" Yuki nodded. Seeing the look on my face, he shrugged. "The gods have a lot of kids."

"A _lot_." Sophie blew a bubble of gum in agreement.

I saw a flash of gold. Karson stepped up beside Foxface. A announcer shouted over the intercom in an annoying voice. I was pleased to find he sounded like all of the normal ones do. It's good to know some things never change. "So begins the archery competition between Chair member Fiona Fox,"—a boom of cheering from one side. I knew who they would be betting on.—"and new comer Karson Maverick!" She didn't seem bothered that the cheers were mostly from us. She stood without expression.

They both strung their bows. Karson's was bigger. It was almost bigger than Karson herself. "That's her real one," Nico whispered in my ear, seeing me ogling it. "She carries a smaller one for day to day use, but she uses that for stuff like this."

"She does this often?" Alan asked, interested.

"She's done archery competitions before. She has it was she expects something, but it's too big to have ready all the time."

We both looked back at the two on the field. They were already shooting. Neither of them had missed. Fiona was smirking. Karson was deadpan.

They each hit again, bringing a roar of cheering. Karson seemed to realize neither of them would miss. She took several steps back and kept shooting. Still, she didn't miss.

Foxface wasn't smirking anymore. She took more steps back to be even with Karson. Each time they shot, both of them stepped back.

They were both amazing. They didn't miss once.

People got bored. I'm sure the sun would have been setting if it had actually been outside. Some people left. None of us did. But we certainly were bored. Even Karson looked bored, but, then again, she had looked bored the entire time.

Beside me, Alan whispered something into Avalee's ear. Digging in her bag, she pulled out an apple. She leaned over and whispered into Nico's ear, pressing the apple into his hand. He whispered something back. Alan pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. Showing it to Nico, he grudgingly agreed to something.

He stood up. And guess what? He threw it!

With a shout, he threw the stupid apple in the arena with a strength I hadn't though was possible. Both Karson and Fiona looked around. An arrow shot through the apple at its core.

Silence.

Then cheering.

The arrow had been Karson's.

Yuki put his hand on my shoulder. "Let's get out of here before they find out who threw that apple." He gave Alan an impressed look and walked away with Sophie.

"I think it's time you go back home," said Nico as we walked out. Alan and Avalee skipped hand in hand beside us.

"But..." _Home isn't home anymore. It's scary._ I left that part out.

"Lee. Cass will be mad at me if anything happens to you, so you should go home." He didn't look at me.

"Who is Cass?"

No reply.

"Who is Cass?" I asked again.

The three of them stopped, and I almost ran smack dab into Nico.

A girl walked past, wearing the same uniform I saw a lot of others wearing. Her black hair was tied back away from her face, but strands still hung around her ears, curling up like little coils. She had a sharp nose and strong chin. She looked at us. Her eyes were blue-gray.

She looked like me.

With a smile to a shocked Nico and a humming Alan and Avalee, she laughed, put a finger to her lips like a vow of silence and moved on. She hadn't seen me. I was hiding behind Nico.

"Who is Cass...?" I asked quietly. I knew that was Cass, somehow. But I didn't know why she was important. "Cass is..." The name felt familiar.

"Cass is just Cass." Alan shook his head. "I don't think we should say anything to Nathan."

"I agree," said Avalee. She turned to me. "I would forget about Cass. You already have, anyway. Remembering will hurt." It was a warning. But the look in her eyes made me realize she wanted me to remember. She didn't want me to hurt, but she wanted me to know the truth. The truth I had forgotten.

"Cass loves you, Lee." Without another word, Alan and Avalee raced down the hallway. Nico looked at me curiously. He asked if I needed help getting to the top level, I think. I said nothing, nodding numbly.

Because I had remembered. I _knew._

I knew my sister was a monster. I knew that she hurt people and broke them to get them to do what she wanted. And now, I knew that my sister wasn't really my sister.

And that was one thing I _could_ believe.

**Sorry it was so short! Sorry! I updated fast though, didn't I? Aren't you proud of me?**

** About the sequel. I think it will be in the future. Seven or eight years from now. So it will feature the two sets of twins. Pez, Lyla, Alan, and Avalee. Of course, everyone else will be there too. And true to my nature there will be a bunch of new characters.**

** But only if you guys want there to be another one.**

** ...**

** Do you?**

**REVIEW so you can tell me.**


	19. Puzzle Pieces

a.n. So...it's kind of late. :)

_Nathan Grace, son of Nyx_

The room was warm. The walls were wooden and the floor was polished, though well-worn, hardwood. There were bookshelves lining one of the walls. There was a desk sitting in front of a large window which took up nearly an entire wall all on its own, showing dark skies and glittering stars, spelling out stories and people in the constellations.

I was asleep, but I hadn't remembered ever going to bed. Ella was beside me, smiling like always. "Do _you _remember going to sleep?"

"Nope," she said cheerfully. "But I do remember you collapsing on the floor in the arena. Good thing I was the only one there, or else you would have worried someone. I did, like, two seconds after you though, so it's all good." She looked around. "You know where this is, right?"

"I'm not an idiot," I said grudgingly. "Of course I do."

"Nathan! Ella!" We were tackled by two little blonde things. Alan and Avalee were hugging our knees. "We missed you!" Avalee declared.

"We missed you, too!" We both bent down to their level. I looked over, and I saw Ella get a little teary eyed. Aww. How cute. 

"Everyone else is here too," Alan told us, pointing. 

Karson, Nico, and Cass were sitting on the floor by the wall. I happened to notice that Karson and Nico were sitting very close to each other. I knew it would happen. 

But Cass was the one that I needed to talk to. Badly.

"Cass," I said, coming over.

"What up, yo?" she asked, smiling up at me.

I frowned. 

"Wow, it was that bad, huh? Let's just say I'm not the...most gangster person around. Have you heard Yuki? He is extraordinarily white for an Asian person."

"What happened to your arm?" I asked, grabbed her hand to get a better look. "Are those cigarette burns?"

"Heck yes! They hurt like crap, always itching," Cass complained. Then she looked at me and smiled a little. "Annoying little things, but that's all. I'm fine."

"I don't know how being in the dungeon getting poked with a cigarette is labeled as 'fine'."

A shadow passed over her face, but I knew better than to ask her about it.

Ella bounced over, Avalee on her back and Alan running around her legs in circles as she moved. "Oh, come on. Confess you missed each other and kiss and then _everything will be alright!" _she said, singing the last four words. Stopping, she glared at Karson and Nico. "You guys too."

Karson tried to smack her. 

"Man, Cass and Nathan, Karson and Nico, I feel so you of the loop. You know, making faces is a terrible way to boost my self-confidence. You would be a horrible therapist," she told Karson when the blonde girl made a face. Dodging a punch coming her way, Ella, mockingly serious, said," You know, I think you just made me depressed. What if I went suicidal? What would you do then?"

"Then you wouldn't be mad when I killed you," she muttered.

"Oh, but that would take out all of the fun," Nico reminded her with a wry smile. 

"Indeed," said Ella gravely. "Sorry to put a wedge in your plans."

"Do you even know where we are?" Karson asked, scowling—as usual.

"Moms house," I told her, sitting up on the desk.

"Wow, didn't expect to meet the parents so soon, did you?" Ella teased Cass, seeing her expression.

"Don't worry. She's just missed her precious _boyfriend._ Right, Ella? I'm sure he misses you too."

"Duh," she giggled at Karson, throwing a wad of paper she had extracted from her jacket pocket.

"If this is your moms house...where is your mom?" Nico asked, eyebrows knit. 

"Who knows? Never met her," I told him, smiling.

"Really?" Cass asked.

"I mean, I don't have the best parent-kid relationship either, but I've met him, at least." Nico snickered.

"Yeah? Your dad has dead souls threaded into him underwear. Don't make fun of _my_ mom."

"She could be crazy, for all you know!" he argued.

"At least she doesn't have _dead souls_ in her _underpants._" I laughed at him. "No disrespect intended," I added, just for good measure.

"Yeah, he isn't stupid. That remark basically dripped disregard." Cass rolled her eyes.

"Oh, by the way, I think moms here," I said after a second.

Everyone's heads turned toward the door simultaneously. 

Mom was a beautiful woman; there was no denying that, no matte how weird it feels saying that about my mother. She was tall, thin, like Ella, with our curly, thick, jet black hair, piled up on her head and then running down her back like water. She was so pale she glowed, literally, and she smiled with full red lips. The only things that were moderately freaky were her eyes. They weren't just black, like ours. There were _all_ black. Even that white part that I always forget the name of. Her entire eyeball was just as black as her hair, only there were little silver dots I could swear were moving around in the darkness.

"Excuse, but that' my desk you're sitting on," she told me cheerfully.

"Hey, your house is my house."

"I thought it was the other way around," Ella commented.

"I believe it works either way."

"You both are too much like your mother," Nyx said with a wry smile. She sat in her chair, adjusting her black dress. "You know where you are, I assume."

"You assume correctly," I told her lightly, jumping down from the table and standing next to the others. Nico and Cass both seemed somewhat comfortable. He had dealt with gods before and Cass worked for them, so someone new didn't even faze them. Karson stood rod-straight, alert, like one of those soldiers in the big, fuzzy black hats from England. Avalee and Alan were playing patty-cake, not even paying attention. "What we don't know is why we're here."

"Very direct. I see."

Cass snorted. "On the contrary. It's like pulling teeth trying to get a straight answer from him."

"I always thought it would just be easier if we hit him over the head with a brick and left him in the park." Ella laughed. "That should solve all our problems."

"That might work if we left you with him," Karson snipped. I laughed. Inwardly, of course.

Nyx smiled a little at us, automatically brining back our little attention. ADHD, you know. It's a great excuse. "Well, as to why you're here..." her soft voice drifted off. Upon closer inspection, the little silver flakes in her eyes _were_ moving. Not only that, but I could see constellations. Big dipper, little dipper, Hercules, Orion, on and on and on. Interesting.

"Actually, I have another question," Cass asked, cold as ice and hard as steel. "Why aren't the gods doing anything about Thea?"

If anyone in that room was direct, it was Cass.

Nyx looked sad. "We have...rules. Regulations. No messing with mortal affairs. Fat lot of good that's ever done."

Her comment startled a laugh out of Cass.

"Anyway," she continued, smiling a little, secret half-smile, not unlike the one in my own personal arsenal. "We aren't even doing anything until Thea takes the fight a little farther. Technically, she hasn't really hurt anyone."

She had hurt Cass. I didn't say that.

"You guys didn't even do anything about Kronos either until after Artemis held the sky for Atlas. If you had taken action before that, my sister not have died," Nico told her, startlingly cold. I'd seen him sneer, seen him agitated, seen him sarcastic, but he seemed scarily chilly. "Are you going to go down _that_ road again?" He looked at her in something like disgust. "You people never _learn,_ do you?"

Nyx looked sad, a little guilty even. I was surprised Nico had the guts to say that to someone who could potentially smite him. "I'm afraid I have to agree with you," she told him softly.

Nico looked as though he were about to say something else scathing, but was surprised by her response.

"My family has done nothing, _again,_ at the cost of lives. I have gone along with them for millions of years. But I could _not _have another war, not so soon. So, this is my step, my path, towards the liberation for the children under Thea's thumb." She looked at Ella and I regretfully. "It hurts to put you in such a situation when I haven't met you officially."

"Tell me about it," Cass muttered.

"It has to be done," Nyx said firmly.

"Wait," Karson said suddenly. "I don't want to get into this any more than I need to. I'd rather get out with all of my internal organs still _internal_ so I can go home. I have a family, you know." Her brown eyes flared. "I can't just, you know, go and _die_! That's just stupid." She blushed and shut up.

"This isn't about you," Nyx informed her. "It isn't about you, or me, or the gods, or any sole person. This is about the _future._ You're here for _everyone._"

No one said anything. Karson huffed. "No way." She shook her head.

"I'll let you think about that." Nyx stood and left the room.

Silence.

"No _way_. No freakin' way. I'm not bringing that girl down. She's like, a schizoid," Karson reiterated.

I had to agree.

"Gods," sighed Cass. "You all are so simple-minded."

"How so?" asked Nico, slightly red-faced. Actually, it was more of a snap than a question.

"There are tons of people here just like us! And if we just leave it, it will keep on going, right?"

"Cass, you just want to bring down Thea for kidnapping your sister," Karson said sullenly. "The rest of us have no reason to be here."

"Yeah, 'cause Thea stole everyone else's sisters too," Cass said with an eye roll. I had been waiting for her to explode. "They don't have a reason to be here either. And I might as well kill two birds with one stone, right?"

"_I _still have my family and I intend to get back in one piece," Karson barked harshly.

"Karson," Ella warned. "That's mean."

"I'm a mean person! Deal with it!"

"No, you aren't!" Ella walked over to Karson and stuck her finger out at her. "Nobody here is a mean person. And I don't just mean in this room. I mean nobody in our situation. No one deserves to be here." She put her hands on her hips. "As I see it, Thea is part of a vicious cycle."

"What do you mean?" Nico asked.

"She destroys lives," Alan said quietly. "She breaks them and then puts back the pieces so that it suits her, like some devil's puzzle. It's sick," he said, emotionless.

"We snuck into the records," Avalee continued. "In the past five years, 13 people have committed suicide here. I counted," she said sadly, looking nothing like herself.

"There! You see?" Ella insisted, eyes bright. I was glad she wasn't smiling, because now was just not the time. "Honestly, is there a more satisfying way to stop this than revenge? I think not."

"We're supposed to be heroes, remember?" Cass said.

"Everyone here is a hero, technically," I pointed out. She glared at me. "I'm just saying."

"Maybe we should take a vote or something." Karson nibbled on her lip.

"This isn't that kind of situation," I said, laughing. "This isn't Congress. Either you're in or you're out. This doesn't have to be a group thing. If you don't want to do it, you're a liability." I was slightly shocked. I was watching too many crime shows.

Ella started humming.

"What are you humming for?" Karson snapped. She was slightly irritable today. Someone needed a nap.

"This is boring," Ella announced. "I'm in."

"Not me." Karson huffed.

"I am." Nico sat down on the floor by my feet where I was sitting on the desk. "We've all got families."

I laughed. He had none but a crazy god holed up in the Land of the Dead. Which, of course, is a prime vacation spot. He looked up, and I expected a glare. But he just looked tired. "My family is all of the kids at camp. Half of them are here. Besides, I've been wanting to punch Thea in the face for the past, like, three weeks."

"Try six months," I said bitterly.

"I think I win," Cass said in a bored voice, rolling her eyes again.

"And don't tell me you haven't," Nico finished, looking up at Karson.

"Of course! But there is a difference between punching her and ringing down an entire operation! It's a suicide mission!"

"Then don't fight," I told her simply. "But the gods know I am."

Slowly, I could see her caving. I was about to tell Nico to say something to seal the deal, but Cass us to it. Taking Karson hand, she looked Karson straight in the eyes. "Help me save my sister."

I could practically hear the _click_ as Karson made up her mind. "Fine."

******

"Gods, this hurts!" Ella complained, sitting up from the floor. Stretching, she looked like a cat.

"Say that after _I _fall asleep on _you_," I teased.

We both got our feet and moved over to side of the arena where we had been accosted by a fit of sleepiness. It was morning, but since it was so early, no one had come in yet.

"Sometimes, I wonder what it would be like if we actually slept at night," I said thoughtfully.

"Psh," Ella said, flapping her hand. "Sleep in overrated." She skipped away. "So, we saw Cass, and the twins."

"It'd be better if it had been in real life." I sighed. "Oh well."

"Hola, chica!" Sophie cried, running over to us. She was wearing something bright again, a hot pink tank top and shorts. She was panting. "Me n' Yuki have been looking for you two all _over_ the place!"

"What for?" I asked, curious. I squashed some comment about a disco ball. It was a compliment, I assure you. But Sophie didn't seem like the kind of girl who would run unless it was important.

"The twins! The little blonde ones. One was taken to the infirmary early this morning. Some giant found him in their rooms."

"Why? What happened?" Ella asked, concerned. She was freaking out on the inside though, because her voice had risen two whole octaves.

"He was in some kind of trance or something. I got a look. His eyes were all, like, huge!" She bugged out her eyes in demonstration. "Yuki said I should tell you because it was probably something important."

"One of these days we need to find out how much that boy knows," Ella said to me. "Thanks!" Giving Sophie a pat on the back, we both started running to where [I think] the infirmary was.

We were there in seconds. "Let us through!" Ella hissed to the two guards.

"We have orders not to let the two of you in here," the guy insisted.

"Sorry, dude," I told him, grabbing his face. "But we have to get this cleaned up before Thea can come down off of her throne to investigate." I shoved his head back, making him hit it on the wall behind him.

Ella kneed the other guy it _that place_ and hit him on the back of the neck when he doubled over. "Oopsie." She scuttled into the room. "I'll just take over your shift."

I closed the open doors behind us.

Alan was sitting up on his hospital beds, staring out into space. I took a look at his eyes. They were just as pale, icy blue as usual, but instead of having a pupil, the entire eye was iced over.

"Ella, Nathan!" Avalee squeaked. "I tried to keep the people out but they just wouldn't!" She jumped out of the chair she was occupying.

"Here," Ella said, handing Alan a piece of paper. He took it numbly.

"Do you have a pencil?" I asked. Ava was already reaching into her jacket's front pocket to pull out a sharp Number 2. She passed it to him wordlessly.

"I was trying to give it to him before, but those guards kept looking at me all creepy," she said after a moment.

Alan started to draw. Ella wrung her hands nervously. "This isn't the first time this has happened, you know?" I told her easily.

"Do you know how bad it would be if Thea found out about their dad?" she asked anxiously. "They're the kids of a titan, Nathan. Thea would kill to have them."

Yep, the cute little twins are the children of a titan. Weird, huh?

"Krios made us promise not to tell anyone. Only dad knows, besides us. That was the deal." She tugged on her hair, just like Cass did. Ella was whispering hurriedly.

"Yes, yes, I know."

"Who knows what will happen if Thea finds out?"

"Ella," I warned her good-naturedly. "If you're voice goes any higher, only dogs will be able to hear it."

Just then, Alan put his pencil down on his bed spread and fell back on his pillow, sound asleep. Without looking, I folded up the picture and tucked it into the pocket of my pants. Sometimes, you don't want to see the future.

"I'm disappointed in you."

Ella snapped to attention, jumping up from where she was slumped in her chair like a kid getting caught stealing cookies. Avalee looked over at her with solemn eyes. Thea was standing in the doorway, holding up the guy whose head I slammed by the hairs on his head angrily.

"Who knew you four were keeping such a secret?"

******

"I hate sleeping," Ella declared, pacing. "I fall asleep one time and I end up in _here_! Stupid sleep. What's it good for anyway?"

"I think Karson's rubbing off on you, too."

"Please don't tell her. Her head can't get any bigger," Ella said with a wicked grin.

We'd both been stuck in something that looked suspiciously like a waiting room for a little over two and a half hours, pacing, not seeing anyone. Avalee was being watched and Alan was still asleep on his hospital bed. No help from them.

"Besides us, and anyone who hates us, of course, who knows we're here? No one, right?" asked Ella.

"Sophie knows we went to the infirmary."

Sighing, Ella started doing the Macarena randomly, almost absently. "I need to laugh."

"I remember the days when I could say 'pudding' and you'd burst into giggles."

Ella burst into giggles.

"Pudding," she laughed.

"Are you in high school or not?"

She stuck her tongue out at me. "Not. Right now, I'm in a waiting room with my turd for a brother." Ella looked at the locked doors. "Someone is coming."

I heard footsteps. "I want to beat them up."

"It's my turn!" Ella whined.

"Seniority!" I called, just as something hit the door. I heard someone try to scream while someone else put his or her hands over his mouth.

You could hear voices and muffled _thumps_ for the next two minutes or so. Then Sophie, of all people, kicked the door down. "You guys weren't supposed to get into trouble until I told you to."

"Guess this speeds up the process, though," said Yuki, poking his head in the doorway. "It's chaos upstairs."

"What do you mean?" I asked, walking smoothly out of the door.

"Those friends of yours heard you got taken and started killing giants left and right. It was awesome. I was so proud," Yuki told us, grinning wolfishly.

"They grow up so fast," Sophie concurred.

"How'd you know we were down here?" Ella asked, walking backwards in front of us.

"Lee."

"_Lee?!"_ she gasped.

"Yup," Sophie confirmed. "She said that Thea took you two down to the offices _and_ gave us a map of not just this area, but the _entire_ freakin' house. I have absolutely no idea how she got it."

We walked a little farther, Yuki detailing what was happening up above our heads, Sophie adding in details that she thought were important. Sooner than I realized we were at the floor where the action was. "Are you ready?" she asked.

"You're kidding," Ella scoffed.

"I've been ready for the past six months."

**If you review, I'll update faster! REVIEW**


	20. Neutrality

**a.n. Here you go Callie. A little Narson action. :)**

**_Karson Maverick, daughter of Apollo_**

Fighting is scary.

I'm not really sure how else to explain it. I mean, yeah, we've all read books about wars and battles (obviously) and I'm sure you have always thought it would be cool to live in the world where you could be a hero. It isn't like that. It isn't like that at all.

You can die. You can die and never see it coming. Someone can chop off your head or stab your heart when you aren't looking. I guess that's what the ADHD is for.

Or your friends can die. And sometimes that can be even worse.

So when I was standing in the middle of the arena surrounded by giants and half-bloods hacking each others limbs off, blood everywhere, people screaming, crying, shouting, giving me the worst headache in the _history _of headaches, I can honestly tell you I wasn't thinking anything about how cool it was.

Actually, if I recall correctly, I was thinking some really dirty words that are probably best left off paper. In multiple languages.

I winced as a demigod sliced a monster in half and it screamed bloody murder (understandably) right in my ear. I'm pretty sure it is _still_ ringing.

I shoved an arrow into the throat of one in front of me with all the strength I possessed, which was enough, because she crumpled on the floor. I wiped sticky blood from my hand on my sweatshirt.

A strong hand pushed me on my back, and I went flying into the wall. That monster headache got even worse when my forehead made contact with the stonewall. "Aw, shoot," I muttered, kind of dazed.

You know how I said you could get your head chopped off if you weren't paying attention? Evidentially, that monster was _not _paying attention.

Because two seconds later, its head was in my lap.

"Ick," I mumbled, shoving it off as the body disintegrated.

"Says the girl who had monster blood all over her clothes." The one who chopped of the things heads held out a pale hand. I smiled, because I could tell who it was.

"Cass." I took it, standing up. "Nathan will be glad."

Cass tugged on one of the two French braids she'd tied her black hair into, looking sheepish. "Where is he?"

I shook my head. "I'm not sure. I heard from Yuki that Thea found out something about the twins and threw Nathan and Ella into some Waiting Room of Evil. That's how this whole mess got started."

"They always did like to get reactions. Where are the twins?" Cass asked, crouching beside me. I had fallen behind the seats so we were pretty well covered.

"They were in the hospital, but I seriously doubt they are anymore. They are probably out there assassinating giants with a sniper gun or something equally unnerving."

With a wry smile, Cass felt the bump on the back of my head with gentle fingers. "Ouch." She winced when she felt it. "If we weren't in a battle fighting for both our lives and our freedom, I would recommend some ice, but since that isn't an option, you'll just have to make do. There isn't a concussion, so that's good."

"Are you sure?"

"You don't seriously want me to ask you 'how many fingers and I holding up', do you?"

"I'm good." I stood up shakily. "Have you seen Nico?" I bit my lip.

"Sorry, no," Cass told me sympathetically. "But I only just got here. He should be around here somewhere." Suddenly, she skewered a bird looking thing with a spear she had stolen from who knows where. It squawked once, twice, and then fell to the ground. "How's that for animal cruelty?" Cass asked dryly, waving her spear. "I think I'll go find Nathan."

"Why? Are you going to confess your undying love for him?" I smirked at her.

"Maybe, but I feel like now would be a bad time." She laughed.

"I was wondering if you even knew you liked him yet."

"Who wouldn't like Nathan Grace?" Cass asked, bursting into laughter, sounding alien amongst the battle cries.

"Those giants that tried to kill him at camp?"

"Well, he instigated them. I don't really blame them. That boy sure knows how to get under your skin."

"It's a family trait," Ella said, sliding down the stair rail.

"Are you okay?" I asked, worried. Sure, this time last year, I had hated Ella Grace with ever bone in my body, as well as some organs and probably most of my muscles, but we were way past that. I think.

"Well, that depends," she said, in a tone so sour I almost looked around to see if anyone else had said it. "Can you be okay when a psychopath knows that your two younger siblings are the children of titans?"

Cass pursed her lips. "You weren't supposed to tell."

"You knew?"

"Since I met them. I read their file."

"What about you?" she asked me.

"Well, I didn't know. But they could be worse, right? At least they aren't going to kill anyone in their sleep."

"You weren't supposed to tell," Cass reiterated.

"The deal got cut. Thea found out on her own, so the stupid contract is null, void, and as useless a broken clock. Ahh!" Ella picked up a piece of lose rock and chucked it at another bird thing, hitting its head right on.

"Well, I think it's better if we go." I ran down the steps into the actual arena, grabbing a sword from a boy with a broken leg in trade for a square of ambrosia.

I'm not sure how long it was. Maybe it was five minutes, maybe even five second, but I chopped and hacked and destroyed everything in my immediate vision that shouldn't have been there like a mad person for a while.

"_Karson!_"

"What?" I turned around, expecting some demigod or something. That wasn't exactly what I got.

It was something huge, bigger than anything I'd ever seen, with horns and skin that was patchy like scales and the color of wet sand. Something like an axe he held above his, swinging it down toward mine. I yelled. I didn't get a long time to look at it. I stepped back, slipped. Someone grabbed my arm.

For a second, I thought I had gone blind, because everything was gone all of a sudden. I was in this huge black swirl of nothing that made every hair on my body stand on end like I'd been electrocuted.

Instead of landing from my fall on the hard ground of the area, I was on grass just outside of Camp Half-blood. How had that happened?

Nico was kneeling beside me. "I'm...an...idiot," he breathed heavily, like he'd been running a mile uphill. Then he collapsed the rest of the way to the ground.

"Nico?" In any other situation, I would not have been able to stop smiling from seeing him again, but the fact he was unconscious at my feet kind of took away from my elation.

His face was deadly gray, his skin sweating yet somehow cold to the touch. He looked...well, like he was going on a permanent vacation to his Dad's.

"Nico? Nico!" I shouted.

"What?"

I looked up. Lyla and Pez Rose were standing by Thalia's Tree, holding each other's hand. Lyla carried Mr. Bud in her other hand. "It's Karson and Nico. Nico is unconscious," Lyla informed her blind sister, describing the scene as she slowly let go of her hand. Lyla ran down to us. "You have to get him up behind the boarders. Pez will take care of you both."

The seven-year-old and I slowly dragged him the hill to where Pez was standing. When we situated him by her feet, Lyla tabbed the ground with her foot. Hearing this, Pez bent down on her knees. "Go get Lora, Percy, and Annabeth. Oh, and that new kid. Is Grover here?"

"No, he is away still." Without another word, Lyla went down the hill toward the cabins.

"What were you doing out here?" I asked, eager to break the silence and give myself something to think about other than Nico looking dead at my feet.

Pez felt his forehead, took his pulse. "Just a feeling, I guess." Her sightless eyes looked at me. "Did you shadow travel?"

"I guess..."

"You all were captured, right?"

"Yes," I said slowly.

"That is the reason. The idiot shadow traveled out of a place that was specifically made so that he couldn't. And shadow travel isn't the safest means of transportation anyway. The effort practically killed him."

"But it didn't...you know, _really_ kill him, did it? He did it to save my life, after all." I wrung my hands nervously. "And we have to go back."

If a blind girl can look at you sharply, Pez did. "Why?"

I explained everything to her. About Thea and Lee, some of which she already knew, and then about the place where we had been for weeks, and then the battle.

"Everyone thought you had died. You left for Texas all of a sudden and then we didn't hear a word from you. Lora had been pulling out her hair with worry."

Oh, that's right. Weeks. We had been gone for weeks.

"Mr. Grace has been having trouble keeping his smile on. He keeps calling, and the Angel Boy, David, he is worried as well."

"Angel Boy?"

"Oh, right. He was clamed." Pez didn't even look up from Nico, wrapping up a cut on his arm that was bleeding. "David Jane, son of Nike. That boy can _fly._" She laughed, and it sounded like bells. "Really fly. With wings and everything. But that isn't all of it."

"There's more?" I bit my lip, trying not to look at Nico.

"His grandmother is Hecate. Usually, the children of demigods are mostly normal, but the divine blood he has from Nike ignited the blood from his grandmother. He can do some small magic. Isn't that fantastic? He came here two weeks ago. He has been kicking half-blood butt as foot racing. He isn't too bad at knife-throwing either."

"You're rambling," I told her.

"I was trying to distract you. Sorry. All done." She dusted off her small hands. "Now Lyla just needs to bring the ambrosia I have and he'll be fit as a fiddle. Now it's your turn."

I hadn't even realized I was bleeding. Not only was I bleeding, but bleeding in several places. I suppose when you are fighting like a mad woman you can't help getting cut up here and there. I'm not really sure how Pez knew, though.

Carefully, I placed her hand near one cut and she lightly brushed it with sensitive fingertips. I winced. "Are they all like this?" she asked.

"I can take care of them myself," I snapped back. "I could have taken care of Nico, too."

"No need to be testy, dear," Pez replied harshly. I was being called "dear" by a seven-year-old. O', how the mighty have fallen. "Frankly, I'm not in the mood." She pulled up grass from the ground, her fingers darkening with mud.

"Why? It's not like you have anything serious going on." I was sour.

"Excuse me?" she asked dryly. "Nathan and Ella are my _siblings._ What kind of monster would I be if I wasn't worried, huh?" Pez turned her pale eyes to the sky. "As if I'm not enough of a monster already."

"What are you talking about, Pez?" I sniffed, softening. "You aren't a monster."

"I am a selfish, ironic brat. I'm not worthless. I can make a difference. I just don't. In my opinion, neutrality is just as evil as evil itself, because I don't do anything to set the bad things right." She sighed, and then smiled at me. "But at least it's nice to know where I stand. The only way to go is up, right?" Pez smiled at the sky.

I was having issues decided whether Pez was insecure or not.

She had said what she said like she knew it was the truth, like I had no right to try to prove her wrong, but she didn't sound beat up about. Pez was more...proud. Proud that she had stated her faults and that she knew what she needed to work on.

What a complicated seven-year-old.

Just talking to her made my head hurt almost as much as it did after a conversation with Alan.

She laughed. "Sorry. That conversation is probably making your head spin. I don't have self-esteem issues, I promise. I'm just...aware." Pez ran her fingers over one spiral curl. Then she went rigid. "David is coming."

I looked around the hill. No one was coming. Seemingly knowing what I was doing, Pez snorted and pointed up.

There was David, and he had _wings._ He looked like an angel.

Of course, that changed when clumsy David landed, or tried to. He almost trucked poor Pez.

"You need to work on your landing," she told him sourly.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly. "Lyla told me to give you this for Nico. Is he okay?"

"He will be, once he eats this." Pez worked on getting the small amount of ambrosia into Nico's system.

"So, you can fly now?" I asked, waiting for him to blow. Expecting it, actually.

"Cut the crap, Karson," he said bluntly, almost in a monotone. "What were you doing? I finally get claimed and come here, and everyone is telling me that you ran after Alan and Avalee to Texas and no one has heard from any of you in weeks!"

"If you're worried about Ella, last time I saw her she was attacking a giant bird with a chunk of concrete."

His shock was funny.

"Of course, I'll have to go back, and soon." I gave the bandage I had been wrapping around my bleeding injuries on the ground near Pez's feet. After a moment she picked it up and put it back in her bag.

"And just how do you expect to do that?" Lora, Percy, and Annabeth all were trudging up the hill, Lyla skipping just ahead. Lora looked just the same as how we had left her—grumpy at being left out.

"Oh my _gods_," Annabeth whispered. "Is Nico okay?"

"I'm okay _now_," he said, sitting up, wincing a little.

"Nico!" I cried, giving him a hug, which was totally uncharacteristic of me, but I thought he would die, so...

Yeah.

"Where did I take us?" Nico asked groggily. "I forget."

"Well, considering it just about killed you, I guess that's a good thing," Pez retorted facetiously. "If you do that again, I won't help you the next time. You're at camp, in case our being here didn't give it away."

"You're very snappish for seven-year-old," he muttered.

Pez and Lyla both grinned. "Glad _you're _feeling better," Lyla giggled, clutching Mr. Bud. "You really should rest before doing anything else. I doubt you're at 100% just yet." She pulled one of her curls down and let go, watching is jump.

"We have to go back!" he insisted.

"_I_ have to go back. You're staying here," I told him sternly.

"Now, why on earth would I agree to that?" Nico asked me sharply.

"Maybe you talk in your sleep," Percy offered.

Annabeth elbowed him. "That's _you_, Percy,"

"No. I drool."

"It isn't impossible to do both."

"Well, turning back to the subject at hand," Nico started, "you can't get back without me."

"I'll figure it out," I insisted.

"Whatever."

Pez sighed. "Nico, you should be fine for now, just don't, like, overdo it or anything. You'll be tired, but once the adrenaline hits you'll be. Prepare to feel like you have a hangover in the morning."

"How do you know what a hangover feels like?" Lora asked, hopping a little.

Pez rolled her eyes. Carefully, she stood up from where she was sitting, brushing off her clothes absently. "As for how to get there, can't we work something out?" she asked, grinning, to her sister.

Lyla clapped excitedly. "Oh, yes, yes! It's a good idea. I should have thought of it."

"What can you do?" Nico asked skeptically.

"Well, it _is_ nighttime, after all," Lyla said, hands on hips. "That's our specialty."

"It's a bit like shadow travel," Pez said. "Except we can only do it at nighttime and it requires two children of Nyx to get it to work. It can also take a large amount of people and the energy it takes is about the same, only it's shared between the two people."

"Of course..." Lyla added with a wolfish grin. "It would involve us coming along."

"No," Nico said brusquely.

"Oh, yes. It is the only way you have, since it just about kills you to shadow travel there. Thea doesn't have any wards against us, because she doesn't even know about. Nathan and Ella don't either," Lyla reasoned.

"You all could die," he said bluntly.

"Not me," said Percy, raising his hand. Annabeth punched his arm. "What?" he asked.

"We can't _all _be indestructible like you, Percy." She sighed. "Lyla and Pez are good fighters."

"They're kids," Nico replied.

"They're _demigods,_" Percy answered. "They aren't like normal kids. They've done and seen things you wouldn't believe. All of us have."

"You trained with the dead when you were eleven," I added.

"I don't see how that applies. They're not eleven. They're _seven._"

"We're going," Pez said firmly. "And we're going now."

"Why do you even care?" I asked crossly. I wasn't sure whether them going was a good thing or not. But having a two kids with us seemed like a bad idea to anybody sane. I conveniently forgot that they were about a ear old that Alan and Avalee.

Pez looked at me with those sightless, pale eyes, and she looked sad I swear. "I told you. I'm a monster. I consider this redemption. This is my chance to break my neutrality contract."

****

**...**

**I love laughing.**

**Sorry.**

**REVIEW, or else Thea will kidnap you in the middle of the night.**


	21. Flying Bricks and Having Fun

a.n. Hey-lo! Sorry for the wait!

:O)

_Nathan Grace, son of Nyx_

_~Beastly Beast, King of Narnia, Hogwarts Alumni (naturally), Tuna Lover._

I got lost.

So sue me. I dare you to get into a fight with bloodthirsty monsters from the darkest, nastiest, smelliest, slimmest, [insert negative –_est _word here] pits of Hades, make one really mad by chopping of its girlfriends head, end up running for your life in the most comical fashion (gee, thanks Ella, sister dearest), and not get lost.

Really, _really_ lost.

And, unfortunately, while Thea had the time to make a seemingly outdoor chamber for people to skewer things on swords, she neglected to add a map of any kind. Or a sign. I couldn't help thinking, after the inner screaming stopped, that a big, blinking arrow saying "Go this way!" would have been really helpful. 

Alas.

Later I remembered I was dyslexic, and reading a map would have been a problem.

Sometimes, being a demigod sucks.

I'm depressing myself. On with the story!

So, fighting-chopping-angering-running/screaming-???

You with me? Of course you are.

Luckily, or unluckily depending on how you look at it, I had the sudden realization that steps have to go somewhere, so up I went. I didn't even think about going down, because that's where the dungeons were, and getting killed down there would have been terribly morbid.

Sooner or later, I got to the top level. Thea ran some sort of normal, mortal business on the side of being an evil, corrupted villain in her home, so while half of her huge house was really a house, the other side wasn't even a house at all. It was a freakily clean (add OCD onto Thea's list of crazy) white business area. That's where I was. 

And I wasn't the only one.

Because that day was just going so well, karma had to balance things out. Thanks for not letting me get too comfortable karma. I really appreciate it.

"Hi?" said the girl questioningly. "Oh my god." That was when she noticed how I was bleeding and everything. "Are you okay? Do you need to go to the hospital? What happened?" 

She said all this very quickly.

"I'm fine, I don't need a hospital, and if you would close your eyes for, like, thirty seconds I would be deeply, eternally grateful."

Surprisingly, she did so, almost out of habit instead of actually doing what I had said, because I could see from the crease between her eyebrows she was still really confused. But hey, that's life. A scary, half-blood, monster infested life, but still.

Sucking in a breath, I listened to the loud footsteps resounding behind me, waiting a moment, turned on my heels to face it against my better judgment, and found myself staring into the two tiny, red eyes glaring at me out of a very angry body-builder giant.

I heard the random mortal counting to thirty beneath her breath. "Don't take it that literally, gosh," I scolded, swinging my sword. My wrist, shoulder, upper thigh, and abdomen all bled and hurt and all, but I tried to ignore it. It was hard. I just wouldn't do any unnecessary acrobatics, which I can't do anyway, so it's all good. 

My sword hit a clump of muscle at the things neck, which must have been made of steel or something because it barely made a nick. Maybe he took steroids or something. That was illegal. He's a felon. Bad felon. 

I jumped backward (ouch) and lifted my shoulder to thrust at him again (ouch). But something else beat me to it. A flying brick. 

Now I was confused too. 

The girl had thrown a brick at the things head. Her aim was pretty good, because it made contact with a satisfying _clunk_. It turned around to face her. I slashed the tendons on the backs of his knees, picking up the brick, and brought it back down right at the base of its skull. I winced as it cracked.

Both of us watched in silence as it disintegrated into a pile of clumpy dirt and blew off in a wind that wasn't really there. Then she looked at me accusingly.

I was expecting her to go crazy and throw another brick or something along those lines. 

"That was way more than thirty seconds. You should learn to count better." She crossed her arms.

She was medium height, not thin but not fat either, not curvy or twig-like, with a slight tan like she had just come from the beach and light greenish eyes. Freckles speckled her nose like someone had thrown poop on her face through a strainer. All in all, she was unspectacular, something some people (the smart ones) would kill to be. The only abnormal thing about her appearance was her bright, fiery red hair pulled back hastily into a ponytail. Little bits hung out around her ears and the base of her neck.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Usually I would be the one to ask first. Of course, usually I wouldn't give my name out to a stranger, but hey." Tapping her toe impatiently, she looked at me with green eyes, almost yellow in the light of the sterile waiting room we currently occupied. "My name is Charly."

"Isn't that a boys name?" I asked, grinning.

She frowned. "Charlotte isn't. But Charlotte is a preppy name, so I won't answer to that unless you're a teacher or my mother." Looking down at my blood soaked clothes, Charly said softly, "Did he do that to you?" motioning with her head to the spot where our late friend had disappeared. 

"Nope, just a bunch of his friends." I laughed.

She looked at me like I was crazy. "How can you laugh when you're half dead?"

"I don't think I could. Apparently I'm only a third dead."

Charly pressed her lips together like she was hiding a smile. "What's your name?"

"Nathan Grace, at your service." I inspected the cut on my wrist. Lifting up my shirt, I looked at the gash on my stomach and quickly put my shirt back down with a grimace. "You wouldn't happen to have a Band-Aid, would you?"

"Like that would help! Why would I have a Band-Aid?" she cried, a little louder than necessary.

"I don't know. Don't girls carry their whole house in their purses? My sister has clean socks and pop-tart in hers."

"Well, evidently, your sister is as crazy as you."

"You're the crazy one."

"How so?" she said sourly.

"Well," I started. "Considering how you just got attacked by a giant which then disintegrated and you're arguing about whether I'm half dead or a third dead and why you don't have a bandage in your purse..." I let her fill in the blank.

Slowly, warily, she slid down to her knees next to me against the wall I was leaning on. She looked at the opposite wall. "I...see things."

"Dead people?"

"No!" she screamed, again louder than I felt was called for. "Monsters, like that." Charly took a deep breath and looked at her hands. "Maybe I am crazy."

"Nope. But you are an idiot." I laughed. "I saw it too. We couldn't have both seen the same thing, right? Unless ou saw a flying poodle riding a motorcycle or something, I'm pretty sure you're good."

Charly stared at me.

"You think you have it bad? You just see them. I kill them."

"So, you're with the X Men and they aren't monsters. They're just mutants. That would make so much sense."

"Um, no. I'm actually the child of a Greek god and a human and will have to live the rest of my life without claws. Sorry. Kind of a let down, right?"

She stared at me again. At least she wasn't yelling anymore. I always found the "Introduction to Modern Greek Mythology: The Truth about Olympus" speech kind of boring. 

Then I remembered I should have been downstairs killing something. Mostly because that's about when Ella raced into the room. She was breathing heavily, her dark hair pulled back in a similar fashion to Charly's. I did a quick once-over, making sure she wasn't in critical condition or anything. Something on her left leg was bleeding pretty badly, and she held her shoulder like it was hurt, but other than that she was okay.

"Who are you? Oh, never mind, it doesn't matter," was her brief first impression of Charly. "Nathan, I'm so glad I found you. It's David. He came back. He's here!" I watched as her eyes glowed. "And guess what else! Go on, guess!" she cried, practically jumping in her excitement. "No, actually, don't guess. I'll just tell you. He brought _everyone_! Isn't that fantastic?"

"Everyone?"

"Well, technically is was the Rose twins who brought them. But Pez, Lyla, Lora, Percy (who is indestructible and counts as like, fifty people), Annabeth, and somehow Nico and Karson got to camp and back again without my noticing because they're all together!" Ella tugged my shirtsleeve.  
"Come on, little boy. You can't take a break just yet. We've got to go! But first...will you fix my shoulder?"

I noticed how one arm seemed a lot longer than the other. "Dislocation?" I asked, laughing.

"How'd you know?" she smiled. "Fix me!"

I quickly snapped her shoulder back into place with the ease of practice. I can't practically bring someone from the doors of death like Karson or Pez, but dislocations, sprains, and other small injuries? Ella has been falling over things for years. I've gotten plenty of experience.

"Ouchie," she complained. Ella pulled on my sleeve again. "Come on."

"If I take a break any longer Cass will kill me," I thought aloud.

"True dat." We both raced towards the door. Charly hung back, a little unsure. "Yo, mortal girl. Hope on the Suicide Train if you want to. We won't stop you."

That statement must have been a lot more convincing than it sounded, because I could hear Charly's heavy footsteps pounding in time with our own.

"Why are you here anyway?"

"My mom is in a business meeting," she said simply. "I was waiting." The crease between her eyebrows deepened.

The rest of our jog was relatively uneventful. Ella threw her left shoe at a half-blood from the other team, and continued without it. The fighting was generally contained in the arena. Ella opened them with unnecessary ninja onomatopoeia.

"Oh, by the way. David can fly. See you!" She ran into the fight.

"You're sister is a flake," Charly muttered.

"Only on her good days." I looked around. "Nico!" Nico, Pez, and Percy stood by the wall, the two boys jumping this was and that way, fighting the other side, and Pez standing against the wall, blasting anything that came within her personal bubble with shadows.

"What's up?" Nico asked jerkily.

"Long time, no see!" said Percy cheerfully, because he was having no problems whatsoever.

"Pez, take her." I pushed Charly a little towards the seven year old. She inspected her face with her hands before pulling her into her bubble. 

"Why did you bring someone so helpless?" she asked, a little agitated.

"She isn't helpless, just mortal."

"Mortals are helpless," Pez answered solemnly, a trace of bitterness ringing in the tone of her calm voice.

Charly did nothing to disagree.

"Yeah? Well, you're blind," Nico remarked, a bit testy after almost dying, something I learned of from Karson a bit later. I did notice that he was taking it easy.

"Shut up, your feet stink," Pez said cheerfully, sticking out her tongue. Pushing Charly to the floor with surprising might for a little kid, she declared, "Sit!" like a dog.

"How is a blind kid going to help me?" Charly asked quietly. Not quietly enough, because Pez heard and obliterated a monster a little ways away in defiance.

Charly didn't say much after that.

I wasn't really sure what to do after that. If I fought too much or too hard, the nasty booboo on my tummy would start to bleed again. Something hit my head while I was pondering. Turning, I saw Cass, Sophie, and Yuki up in the stands waving at me. I hurried up as quickly as I could. I found David was there too, crouching down.

"Lee!" Cass said, gasping. "Lee! They took her."

"Obviously to Thea, where else?" Sophie blew a huge bubble and popped it with a crack, and I was overcome with the strong smell of Double Bubble. "So, we were going to go find her, and then she saw you, and said we should get everyone."

"And when you saw everyone, you mean..."

"You, Karson, Nico, Ella, David, Lora, Percy, so on and so forth." 

"I'm really just along for the ride," said David, cocking his head the to side just a bit. "But, um, we might have a problem...maybe."

"How so?" I asked.

"Well, if that's Thea, it's probably a problem, just guessing." He pointed to the chair she sat in to watch the archery-off Karson vs. Fiona displayed so well. And, of course, because that karma thing is just so dang good at its job, there she was, with about ten giants and an assortment of other nasty things in tow, looking down at Cass with what I swear was amusement. 

_Welcome back, Cassie,_ I heard, but I wasn't the only one, because Cass paled.

"Being the daughter of the goddess of messages has its uses, no?" asked Sophie cheerfully. "You, like, never need a microphone."

_ I knew all about your little games, Sophia Mayes. I knew since before you started it._

I practically felt both Sophie and Yuki harden beside me, and Sophie's cheery face became stone cold and intellectual, which was a bit strange. I had to admit that the statement scared me a little too. Not because she knew, which was scary by itself. If she knew about it, why didn't she stop it? I knew similar things flitted through their heads too. Cass looked calm as ever, sad, even.

She looked over at me and smiled. "If you keep asking _why, why, why_ you'll end up in the insane asylum before long. It never helps." She tugged on a strand of her black hair, curling it around her fingers. "Where is Lee?" Cass asked softly. Somehow, I wasn't surprised when Thea answered, even though the sound of the fighting around us was deafening. I looked around, and I saw that grinning _things_ surrounded us, making a giant circle that no fighting could enter. Like a living, creepy force field. Looking up, I saw everyone else standing above us, worried.

_At the bottom._

Sophie breathed deeply. "She means the bottom floor, where she keeps the worst of the worst. In the dungeons."

"I've never tried going down there," said Yuki when Cass looked at him. "I'm sure I know how, you just go down the steps, but..."

_I let loose some things to greet you. If you can get to her and not die, she's yours. For five minutes at least, until I kill you personally. _ I could see her grinning. _Have fun._

Cass's face grew dark. Some of the monsters spread apart, leaving a doorway. Slowly we walked toward them. When Cass passed, the two monsters on the side got their heads cut off by water moving so fast it looked like nothing had even happened. "Believe me, I will."

Dun dun dun!

Okay! Let's have some match ups. Who do you think would win and why?

Cass vs. Nathan

Ella vs. Karson

Nico vs. Nathan

Pez vs. Avalee

Oh, and who else loves Nathan? Because I do. Most certainly.


	22. Waiting with the Truth

a.n. Kind of wanted to play with third person, so the first part will be third. :)

Thea stood right where she liked to be, in the center. The center of the large, white room she was in, watching as her little game pieces raced down the hallways to the dungeons, accepting her challenge without a second thought, just as Thea had known they would, _she_ would. Cassandra.

Honestly, she wasn't altogether sure when her manner towards the younger girl had turned from annoyance to loathing. It wasn't that the girl was annoying herself. She wasn't like some of the other people her age, following around the hottest actor on Google and falling in love with people they had known for a day. It was more than that. It was most likely the fact that Cass Hart's life was perfect.

No, she wasn't claimed, but did she care? Not really. So that didn't matter. Her mother loved her; her sister adored her in a most unsibling-like way and, Thea knew, always would. And even before Cass had gotten the training camp had to offer, Thea could tell she was different. More than just not having a father who didn't know her middle and went around with a new girlfriend every other Wednesday. Cass Hart was strong, and she was strong without trying.

Sure, thought Thea, I could have handled it if I wasn't forced to work with her in a situation that would have stressful enough, like a mission to infiltrate Kronos' Army. Not that Thea ever really cared about it. Trying to stop the unstoppable would just give you the results that you would expect. That was before Perseus Jackson had taken a little dip in the River Styx.

After a while, Thea just wanted to play a game. Life in the Army was boring. And what could be a better game than bringing sweet, prodigy Cassandra down to earth? Messing with her just wasn't enough. She wanted to destroy her, change her so much she could be described as Cass anymore. And she had. With the wonderful side-effect of setting out this girl for a life of misery in the Cleaners.

Truthfully, Thea knew that, eventually, Cass would catch up to her, but when that happened, she was ready. She had played the day over and over in her head. She knew what Cass would say, what she would do. The addition of a few more pesky little friends had changed up the scenario a bit, but in the end, as long as the conclusion was the same, what did it matter? Besides, Nathan was an interesting find.

She looked over at Lee, sitting quietly beside her on the floor by her feet, surrounded by giants. The ten-year-old never looked more like her older sister. Her jaw was clenched; her eyes burned with something like hate. This, too, Thea had known to be inevitable.

Lee eyed the chain keeping her where she was. Already, she had tried to escape twice. She was too much like her sister, desperately grabbing for something that would take more than just talent to get a hold of. Maybe that's why Thea could never bring herself to love her adopted sibling. A little Cass is no easier to handle than the big one.

"Your sister is coming. Aren't you excited?" Thea asked with a toothy smile.

The young girl looked up at her ex-sister. Her dark eyes glittered, but what used to be affection was now read as a murderous glare. It wasn't hard to know what Lee Bell thought. If the child hadn't been determined not to speak another word she might have been screaming at Thea for being awful.

"I'm excited," said the older girl, sitting back in a chair that had been brought for her. And that was the truth. Soon, her vision would come true, and there would be a death or two in the room where she stood, in the center, waiting.

_**Karson Maverick, daughter of Apollo**_

So...

I was just the tiniest bit freaked out. I'm pretty sure the rest of us were too. Let's face it. Thea is just plain creepy. And, running down those steps to Hell, I had a good feeling I as going to get a nice good view of the worst side of our little schizoid upstairs. Somehow this idea was not an appealing one. To me. Because Ella was skipping around like we were on our way home from school on a Friday.

"Did I ever tell you how much I love your shirt?" she said, running down the hallways, to Sophie, who, along with Lora, seemed equally unaffected, although Lora had sunk into a fit of silence which I'm pretty sure was because she was excited.

"I got it at Macy's a while back. I love it."

"It's fabulous. Not as fabulous as me, of course. I mean, I'm High School Musical _fabulous!_" Ella did a twirl and somehow managed to keep skipping.

"Your friend is crazy," Nico whispered into my ear, so close it gave me goose bumps, which I hastily ignored.

"We aren't friends. We're rivals. There is a subtle difference."

"And that would be?"

"That I can call her insane in all seriousness and still use her kitchen to make cookies. In such a situation, both parties benefit." Why was I flirting while I ran to my death?

Oh, wait. I wasn't. I was not flirting. No matter what Nico might tell you. I was not. Definitely not.

After this inner rant against myself (which I was somehow losing) I felt that I _really_ needed to change gears and talk to someone else.

"How can you be talking about sparkles at a time like this?" I snapped at Ella, pulling her away, as she and Sophie compared colorful garments. Ella was quite proud of her mismatched neon socks, even in the middle of everything, just like always.

"I'm being optimistic," she whispered to me with a large, sincere smile.

"How?" I asked awed, because I really wanted to know. Maybe if I understood how Ella's brain worked, I would be one or ten steps closer to discovering the Secret of Life. Or maybe if I discovered the Secret of Life I would be one or ten steps closer to understanding how Ella's brain worked. "How on earth can _anyone_ be optimistic at a time like this?"

"After all of this," she started, "after we punch our way through the wall of nastiness and face Thea, regardless of who wins and who loses, all of this will be over." Her voice was eerie and dreamlike at the same time.

"We could die," I remarked, shaking my head, because Ella had screws lose.

She stopped and turned to me, which made me stop too, naturally, as the rest ran ahead. Nico, David, and Nathan looked back at us, but Nathan quickly shuffled them off. _They'll catch up,_ I read on his lips. _They have to talk about Rivalry Things._

"We're heroes, Karson. Of course we could die."

"Yeah, we could. But rushing at it doesn't seem like such a smart thing to do."

Sticking her hands on her hips, Ella tilted her head just a bit, cocking it at just the right angle in that Ella-way. "If you're afraid of dying, then how can you fight all out? Wouldn't it be easier to accept it? Not that we're going to, but still."

I scoffed. "I'm not afraid of dying." _Yes, I am._ "And no, it wouldn't be easier." _Yes, it would be. _"You're are so far from the truth." _No, Ella, you aren't. You hit the nail on the head and I hate you for it._

I muted my contradictory thoughts.

"So you're saying," I began, stubbornly refusing to let it drop like I should have, "that if you knew you were going to die, than you would still go?"

Ella smiled sympathetically, and I wanted to punch her smile off, but I didn't. I don't know why, because I should have. At least I thought so then.

"It depends," she admitted honestly. "If my evil arch-nemesis came a wanted to duel me to the death? No way in Hades would I be that stupid. But if, in the end, I could save someone by winning, then yes, I would try to win, even if I knew I wouldn't."

Something sounded so strange about that. I was the opposite. If someone challenged me, then I would accept without hesitation, just as Ella would refuse without a second thought. But if I had the chance to save someone and I knew I would die if I tried, would I? I didn't think I would.

Ella took my hands. "You would," she said. "You would." I didn't even think about the fact she had practically read my mind. "Sometimes, you just need to listen to me more, because I honestly think I know you better than yourself." _Because we are rivals._

"Then why don't I understand you?" I asked, agitated.

"You do, silly," she said, suddenly cheerful and not-deep, shifting gears in her most Ella-like way. "You just have to pay a little more attention."

"Ella!" Nathan called a ways ahead.

"Quite nagging!" she called back, a slight pucker between her eyebrows. "Let's go, I think something is happening." Obviously, Ella knew Nathan as well as she knew me, because something about his voice worried her.

But with their relationship, Nathan probably knew Ella just as much.

When we reached the rest, I knew that Ella had been right just by the looks on their faces. Not to mention the creepy guy dressed in Death Eater fashion, with a black hooded cape he probably got at the Halloween Express, standing ominously in front of them.

"Ah, so the rest make their entrance." His accent was thick, almost ridiculously Russian like Chekov's in Star Trek, so imagine that sentence with a lot of _v_'s and _z_'s. But if I wrote it how he spoke, you wouldn't be able to read it, so I digress. "You all have impeccable timing."

"I love your accent," Ella said happily. Her smile faded when she saw Nathan's face, which was emotionless like when he was mad, only a look of pure malice was in his eyes, which was one thing I hadn't seen before. Evidentially, she hadn't either. "What's wrong? Are you afraid of the Grim Reaper?" Ella asked, a little laugh getting stuck in her throat.

"They have the twins."

Ella's already pale face went so white it wasn't even a shade of peach any more. "That's not possible." She turned to him so I couldn't see her face anymore.

Wordlessly, he pointed to a cell on the right side, and there were Alan and Avalee, huddled together in a little pile of white limbs in the corner, asleep or unconscious I couldn't tell, looking a little ragged but very much there.

Sophie gasped a little, and David's child-like face twisted into a look of immense concern at something Ella did.

"Fight, if you want," said the Russian guy. "You won't win."

"And if we do?" asked Nico solidly.

He laughed like it was ridiculous. What a conceited little turd. "If you win...I'll give you your little blonde-things back."

"I think you'll agree that it's my turn to work things out, brother dearest." She walked out in front of the rest.

"Ella—" I started, only to be cut off by both Nathan's hand on my arm and the face Ella had on as she turned around to acknowledge me. It was dead-pan, even more so than I had even seen Nathan's, twice as shocking since she was even harder to anger. She looked like a statue of a princess from Ancient Greece, the Warrior Princess from some story that had never been told.

"What's your name?" she asked, not taking her eyes off of the Death Eater.

He just smirked.

"His name is Lucifer." Our attention was brought to a girl sitting on the floor, knee's drawn into her chest, next to the cell that held the other two Grace siblings captive. He glared at her, but she just shrugged in an apathetic way and leaned back.

"Lucifer is a member of the Chair," Yuki hissed into my ear. I should have known that, since he wore that stupid robe each of us was given. The other girl wore one as well, only hers was silvery with a black belt and bands along the roomy sleeves and hem. Her hood was down, revealing a sharp, strong face with a heart-shaped face and eyes a lighter gray than Sophie's. Her bangs were French-braided along the side with bits of hair around her ears while the rest was pulled up into a ponytail. "I'm...not sure about her."

Sophie looked at him in shock. I hadn't been around long, but I knew on thing: Yuki always knew everything.

"Lucifer, then," Ella said, approaching, her voice and face so cold and icy that I would never have recognized her if I hadn't seen the transformation with my own two eyes. "Let's get wild."

Nathan, still pale with anger, sank back again the wall.

"Shouldn't we do something?" Cass asked him. The girl at the wall looked at us with quiet interest.

Nathan looked up at her, and we all settled down with him, because what he was about to say aloud was something that all of us knew in our hearts: "Don't worry, Ella will take care of it."

"How can you be sure?" Yuki asked.

Nathan sighed. "Ella's only been like this twice in her life. The first time, the poor demigod was in the hospital for a month and a half. The second..." he paused for dramatic affect.

We all leaned forward.

"Do you remember that time when the four of us were on the news a few years ago?" he asked me.

I huffed. "How could I forget?" I asked ruefully. "It was all over school."

"What?" asked David. "I have no clue what you're talking about. I must not have been paying attention."

"For a whole year?"

"I don't pay attention that much."

"A few years ago," started Nathan, "we were a few towns away visiting our grandma, and dad dropped Ella and Avalee off at the mall while he and Alan went to the bookstore about two blocks away. I stayed home with grandma. Apparently, while the two were waiting outside in the park nearby to be picked up, some really large guy came over and started talking to them. A minute later, he had grabbed them both and was trying to drag them into his car."

I saw David go red, while the rest of us were paying so much attention to Nathan as he spoke we didn't notice that the unknown member of the Chair looked at us thoughtfully.

"Anyhow, Ella knees him between the legs, grabs Avalee and puts her down, then grabs him head and twists." He smiled faintly at his sister. "They found the guy dead with a broken neck. Of course, the news ate it up, that this twelve-almost-thirteen-year-old girl had killed a kidnapper twice as big as her."

"Why didn't you leave and let them wonder?" Lora asked. "A good mystery would do the world some good."

"The idiot tried it in an area with a camera, unfortunately for both of us. We did run, only to have the police and a reporter turn up at our grandma's front door the next day."

Imagine explaining that to your grandma. "I killed someone at the park, happy birthday."

"My point," began Nathan again. "Is that when Ella is like this, either you get out of her way or she kills you without a second thought. And you don't mess with the Grace kids, because then you either end up in a coma or on the floor of the park with your head twisted the wrong way."

All of us looked at Lucifer, who, I decided, talked way too much. "You know why my name is Lucifer?" he asked. Both had already cut each other up and bruised themselves quite a bit while we were talking.

"Because you mother had a horrible childhood and decided to take it out on her little boy by giving him a horrible name?"

"No," he said, clearly irked. "I named myself."

"Well, I guess that explains a lot too."

"Lucifer is said by some to be the name of the Devil."

"Which is ironic, since we both know there is no devil and that Hades is about as close as it gets. But I guess if you called yourself Hades he might get a little angry." Does that girl ever get nervous?

No.

This conversation was not going the way Lucifer had intended. He was the kind of fighter that instigated the opponent into making a rash decision, but Ella was a master of that as well, and when she was this pissed, it was hard to make her more so.

"I'll win," he said.

"I don't think so." Ella stretched her arms.

"Why not?"

"Because to beat me, you have to be better than me. You aren't, so you fall a little flat, like soda that was left open, only you taste worse and are about twice as annoying."

Nathan laughed. "They grow up so fast."

Lucifer threw something at her, but Ella caught it from the air. It was a throwing knife. "Are you a ninja too?"

I saw Cass and Lora exchange smiles.

She threw it back at him, and he moved just in time for the knife to imbed itself in his shoulder. With a grimace he plucked it from his skin, blood pouring from he black sleeve of his cloak. "You're not bad."

"Wish I could say the same about you," Ella replied just as coldly as before. Bringing her hands together and then slowly bringing them apart, a rope of black that I assumed was condensed shadow formed between them.

"Does she really need to do that, or is she just being dramatic?" David asked, but Yuki shushed him.

"This is the good part," he said. "I give him two minutes."

"Less," said Cass in amazement.

Death Eater Lucifer threw two more knives just so she could dodge. One hit her leg, the other her shoulder, and she ripped them out impatiently, wincing in pain I knew she felt, but just chose to ignore. "Ouch," she said impassively.

"You can't win," they both said at the same time, and Ella smirked, breaking her icy countenance. Taking one of the knives again, she moved so quickly the boy barely had enough time to register her proximity and cut open a hole is his torso. He stared at her, unfazed. Which was stupid, because another two second and he was on the floor with her dark rope around his throat.

He glared at her, trashing, until his blazing glare faded into darkness and I knew he dead. I also knew that Ella was every bit as dangerous as a demon when she was angry. Maybe more so.

The second he died, I saw a flash of the other girls hand as she opened the barred door of the twins cell. Nathan raced in and picked both of them up. Ella had other ideas.

"Who are you?" she asked the girl.

She looked up at Ella with cheerless/indifferent eyes. "Daphne."

"Did you take my family?"

"No."

"I don't believe."

"I don't see why you would. But I speak no lies."

"Are you on Thea's side?"

"I guess that depends on the day."

"What about today?"

"Wait and see."

"Do I need to kill you now?" By that time, we were all staring at them.

"No, that can wait. I figure by that time, you'll have earned to learn the truth."

"The truth?" Cass asked, interrupting.

Daphne turned her silver eyes to look at the green-blue ones. "The truth about why you're here. Thea has a wish. You are here to grant that wish."

"What wish?" Cass practically screamed.

Daphne shrugged, unnerved. "You have to earn the truth. You have not. When you earn the truth, I will speak of it. Until then, I can't say anything more." She stood, and we all tensed up a bit incase she decided to attack us or something. But she just turned and walked back the way we had come.

"But by the end, you will have earned it, and I will be waiting with the truth."

**Who thinks this is getting interesting? ME! Who hates Thea? ME! When I was writing that first part I was all like "How can you be so terrible!" and then I realized it had all come out of my devious brain. :)**

**More match ups.**

**Nico vs. Cass**

**Alan vs. Avalee**

**(and here's a relationship one)**

**Narson vs. Nass**

**(NicoXKarson versus NathanXCass.)**


	23. Super Insane DangerProne Demigods

**a.n. So...I've had this really bad problem with being alternatively busy and lazy over the past, like...month. So enjoy!**

**Thea stared at the image in the glass bowl for a while, the dipped her finger in the water, causing the surface to ripple and the faces to distort. She smiled to herself a little.**

**"****Almost, almost." **

**Lee looked at her, one eyebrow half-raised, as if she was worried her ex-sister might be crazy. Then again, she had that feeling for a while, so she went back to sulking at Thea's feet. She rubbed her neck, wincing as her fingers brushed the lump forming at the back of her head. Lee's latest attempt to escape has not ended well.**

**"****Bring me Daphne." Thea's voice was crisp in the silence, echoing around the room while some of her servants woke from the stupor. "Now!"**

**"****No need," breezed the girl lazily, stepping into the room with her eyelids drooping.**

**The man beside her took a step forward, trying to intimidate the half-blood before him. "You let them go?"**

**"****Yes," Daphne responded, unaffected, as always. She fiddled with the sleeve of her robe.**

**"****Why?"**

**"****I kept my promise." She looked quickly at Thea, then to Lee, then back to the man. "I tend to do that."**

**"****It's fine, Reginald." Thea leaned her head on the palm of her hand. "What kind of game would it be if they were caught so soon?"**

**"****A short one we could easily win," he offered.**

**"****That's boring."**

**"****That isn't the point."**

**"****I said it was the point. This game is to entertain me," she said, looking at him.**

**"****If you let that girl run free, she will overtake you."**

**"****To whom are you referring?" Thea asked.**

**"****Miss Hart, obviously."**

**"****Hmm..." Thea looked back at the picture in the water. "I find that dark girl intriguing as well. The one who dealt with Lucifer." She raised an eyebrow at Daphne.**

**"****I found the fight anti-climactic. Ella Grace was obviously far above him in terms of power. Especially once she was angry. Her powers went much higher than normal."**

**"****The story about the kidnaper freaked me out," Reginald muttered.**

**"****What of the rest?" Thea requested.**

**"****In a word?" Daphne asked with a yawn. "Nathan Grace: Mysterious. I'm not sure what all he can do yet."**

**"****That's why I kept my eye on him."**

**"****Wasn't it for another reason?" Reginald accused. "I thought you wanted eye candy."**

**Thea didn't respond.**

**The younger girl continued. "Ella Grace: um...impulsive. I think that was a flash of her true powers, but I'm never quite sure what she is going to do. Karson Maverick: uncertain. Nico di Angelo:...perhaps straight forward. He doesn't much try to hide his abilities and he is very direct when he speaks. David Jane: typical newbie. His powers are unique though. I swear he was flying."**

**Thea held up her hand, processing, then waved for her to carry on.**

**"****Lora: vicious. On that train I was fairly impressed. Yuki: sneaky. To be able to carry this on for so long was also impressive. Sophie: intelligent. Although she seems to have two personalities, I think she's reasonably clever." She fell quiet again, changing from normal, talkative girl to the silent observer everyone knew she was.**

**Thea smiled. ****_I think they'll be fun toys._**

**_Nico di Angelo, son of Hades_**

**After the deal with Lucifer, I was feeling pretty confident. Which, for a demigod, is always a clue that something somewhat bad was soon to occur. Because, well, let's face it. We just have really, ****_really_**** bad luck. What else is new?**

**It took a while for Ella to bounce back from it, actually. I could tell she was still mad at that guy for hurting her family. Thinking back, she was probably pretty mad at Daphne, too. Saying something that vague and then just disappearing? Literally disappearing? It was like, blink, gone. As Karson described it, Ella was seething, inside and out, for probably the first time she had seen.**

**"****That whole family has some eerie control over ever single emotion," she explained. "I've never seen Nathan mad until this deal. I know it seems like it's happened a lot lately, but it's really hard to get him mad."**

**"****I guess the whole family thing is the big trigger for both of them." I shrugged.**

**Karson nodded. "Ella doesn't get mad when someone just threatens them, so it seems she is harder to crack. But when you actually hurt, or try to hurt them..." Her voice trailed off, leaving me to fill in the blanks. Which I could easily do after the show we'd seen.**

**Sophie and Yuki agreed to stay behind with the unconscious twins until they woke up. Afterwards, what was going to happen was still undecided. We had left that problem unaddressed. The twins would probably either insist on going down to their brother and sister or break out into a game of chess. With them, you never really knew. **

**Deeper and deeper we went into those dungeons. I found Thea a new kind of repulsive. I won't say some of the things I saw, but let's leave it at the fact that each of us puked once of twice, except for the Grace's (go figure.)**

**I took out a water bottle and rinsed out the taste from my mouth after the first time. "She's sick."**

**Cass smiled weakly and took back the bottle, sticking it back in her bag. "I've seen worse."**

**"****Down here?" I asked. I didn't know she'd been down that far.**

**"****Everywhere." She sighed. "People do bad things to each other. Not to mention monsters." **

**I apparently looked curious, because she elaborated. I felt like I would puke again. "Heroes don't always get there in time, huh?" I asked ruefully.**

**"****Nope," Cass said. "Besides, sometimes the hero gets there, it just doesn't end quite how you want it to."**

**That was true enough. We'd lost a lot of campers to monsters over the years. I'd never seen one after the fact, or asked about them. When a regular didn't return, we just assumed something had happened. It wasn't something you thought about, because if you did, suddenly you would become hopelessly depressed. **

**A bunch of depressed kids with lethal weapons at their disposal is not something that you want to be within proximity of. It's kind of like Disney World. Anything can happen.**

**Only in this case I don't think you get to talk to Mickey Mouse. Sigh.**

**We had started walking again. It was a while before I realized Karson had stayed behind, staring into one of the cages. ****_Oh, crap. This can't be good._**

**Thank you, ADHD mind, for stating the obvious.**

**When I got closer, I heard hysterical laughter. Like the kind you hear in movies from the shadows as the murderer closes in. So, of course, we both just felt so warm and fuzzy inside to top off this wonderful day.**

**This had to be divine punishment. For what, you ask?**

**For being amazing. **

**...**

**I think Ella and Nathan are rubbing off on me, too. Am I the only one that fids this fact disturbing? Surely not. I am now deeply disturbed.**

**On with the story.**

**It was a monster, vaguely human, but I couldn't tell what kind it was, partially because of the terrible lighting a mile or so underneath the crust of the earth. Possibly because it laugher was so creepy I had problems looking it in the face. Probably because it was so deformed it looked like a hunchback and its skin was camouflaged in something that looked jarringly like human blood.**

**Karson didn't look like she could move. Once I saw it, I wasn't sure I could either. It was like the laughter held you there in horror. My feet felt like lead, and I felt like I needed a nap. Don't ask me how when I was in a near death situation. But a nap sounded like the solution to all of my problems.**

**Then the laughter ended with a ragged scream and a view choking noises, and I reawakened to see it crumpled up, dissolving, with a shard of glass stuck into its throat.**

**Ella stood behind, wrapping up more shards into a packet of cloth and placing them into her pocket. "I had to improvise, sorry." She smiled. "I wouldn't look at the cages anymore. A lot of things here don't really care if there are bars in between you. They'll kill you anyway." She skipped back the way she'd come. We jogged a little to catch up with the rest.**

**"****Sorry," Karson muttered.**

**"****It's not a problem."**

**"****It just, it just started laughing, and I looked and it was so, so gross I just—"**

**"****Why are you explaining yourself when I just said it didn't matter?" I interrupted, cutting her off. "That's just a waste of time. Besides, we could die at any moment. What if that was the last thing you ever said to me?" That last part was a question that was supposed to stay in my head. It came out anyway. Seems to be happening quite a bit.**

**She hesitated, opened her mouth, and for a second I wondered if I would finally get to hear the words I'd been waiting for. But then another burst of frantic laughter resounded down the hallway, and we looked straight ahead. I wondered who was redder: me or her? Because I knew what I wanted her to say. That's another story thought. Besides.**

**I could wait.**

**"****Nico!"**

**I barely jumped when Lora jumped in front of me, pointing her finger in my face. "You're red."**

**"****Nice observation."**

**"****What if I told you I knew why you were red?" she asked impishly.**

**"****I'd tell you to shut up, because I know, too," I told her, scowling.**

**With a giggle, Lora skipped back up to Cass's side and whispered something into her ear. I was relieved when, instead of announcing it to the world, she flicked Lora's nose. **

**"****Lora's even worse than you," I muttered to Ella when she looked over her shoulder at me, giggling just enough to tell me she was amused.**

**"****Oh, I'm hurt," she responded, not even trying to look offended. "I pride myself on being quite dreadful."**

**There was silence. "Nico, do you believe in happy endings?"**

**"****Is this the opening question for a fairytale? You aren't going to start far-far-awaying are you? 'Cause that would disturb me."**

**"****Psh," she hissed, ginning. "No. That's not what I meant. In all seriousness."**

**I raised my eyebrows.**

**"****Okay, maybe not ****_all_**** seriousness," Ella admitted. "But a good chunk of it."**

**"****What exactly do you mean by 'happy ending?'"**

**"****Well." She cocked her head to the side. "I guess it depends. But what I was referring to was, like, dying peacefully."**

**Um..." I hesitated. "I'm not really sure I'm the one to ask, because I tend to align myself with dead people. I don't think their endings were the best."**

**"****Well, everyone dies. It's stupid thinking anything else." She flapped her hand at me. "Besides, that whole dead thing is the reason I asked you. Because if anyone gave up on having a good end, it would be you, right?"**

**"****I suppose." I hate it when Ella makes a point. It's unnerving. Not at all like hysterical, bloody people. I mean, who is afraid of them? Psh.**

**Truth is, I've thought about that a lot, because of everything. The war, the dead, my general experience with the death of people like me. And here is what all my 80-some years of experience (long, long story. I wouldn't ask) has taught me:**

**"****I don't really think the happiness is in the ending, per say."**

**Ella raised one black eyebrow at me. I never could do that one eyebrow thing. The other one always twitched. "What do you mean?"**

**"****I mean, sure, there are more gruesome ways to die."**

**"****Like getting eaten, or chopped to bits," Ella offered.**

**"****Um...sure." I felt like I shouldn't go into more detail. "But you can have a peaceful end then, depending on how you lived your life."**

**"****Like, if you did good, or if you don't have any regrets." Her eyes dashed to Karson, who was listening. I didn't notice it then, but she got red.**

**"****If I die, I don't really want to die thinking of all of my sins and all of the terrible things I've done. That's would be...not fun," I explained slowly.**

**"****Not to mention you're, like, dying and all."**

**"****You asked," I snapped defensively.**

**Ella held up her hands in surrender, a little smile on her face. "Okay, okay. If that were the case, how would you like to die?"**

**I tried not to think too much. There's a joke there somewhere. Try to resist. "I think..." I started slowly, "that if, when I died, I was able to look back and know that I had changed someone's life for the better, I would be able to die quietly. A peaceful end."**

**I could have sworn Ella looked proud. I decided to change the subject. "Why do you ask?"**

**"****Oh, no reason," she breezed. "I thought you might be able to give me some solace. I seem to be having a lot of life threatening experiences lately."**

**"****Join the club," Karson muttered suddenly.**

**"****I will do so." Ella thought. "We need a name," she announced.**

**"****How about the Super Insane Danger-Prone Demigods?" I offered, half-scowling, but smiling the other half. Karson rolled her eyes at me, half-smiling too.**

She shrugged, smiling. "It works."

"Guys?" said someone walking a few meters ahead of us.

Ella glanced forward. "Oh! Good. I was waiting for something exciting to happen!" She clapped her hands like an eager child.

"Says the girl who just _killed_ a guy," Karson pointed out.

"Who are you, the Moral Police?" Ella questioned. "Besides, it was in self defense." Pause. "Arguably."

"You offered to fight him!"

"I said _arguably._"

"And now I'm _arguing_."

"It seems to be her favorite pastime." I smiled enthusiastically when she glared at me.

"Let's get back to the matter at hand," Cass insisted, a little crease forming between her eyebrows.

Ahead of us, a cage was wide open, the door swung out at a right angle for maximum dramatic effect. I was waiting for some creaking hinges and rattling chains, maybe a view ghost-like moans. Then I'd feel right at home.

"Who else thinks this is a problem?" Karson asked, raising her hand. Cass was the only one who agreed.

"You guys are too cautious," Nathan informed them, looking excited.

"Yeah!" Ella agreed. "This will be fun!"

"Do you think whatever got out can make people insane?" Karson asked.

"Um, probably not. They were like that when we started." Cass rolled her eyes. "This is a problem.

As we passed, extra carefully, I inspected the room of whatever had gotten out. It wasn't encouraging. There were dark wet stains everywhere. It was kind of gross. I wonder what had happened to whoever had let it out. A second later, we got our answer.

Around the corner, right in front of the stairway we needed to get to, was a man, bloody, bruised, and unrecognizable, his eyes glassy like marbles, his neck twisted at a sickening angle as he hung from the ceiling suspended by rope.

"_Now,_ who thinks this is a problem?" Cass asked, freaked out, but probably feeling very glad to be right. Women.

No one bothered to disagree. Everyone's hands went up into the air simultaneously. Everyone's, that is, except for Karson. Because she wasn't there anymore.

_Well, that can't be good._

**I UPDATED! SERIOUS DILEMA UPDATE! So, I'm thinking Ella's POV next, but then she'd be fighting twice. I kind of want to do better, because the last time was sucky. Plus I haven't done her for, like, ages! Would this be okay with everyone, or would you rather someone else? **

**Oh, and I like Daphne. :)**


	24. I get a lot of Awesome Points

**a.n. Blame it on Calliope Muse. It is all her fault it took so long. So I'll try to make it an awesome chapter. AWESOME!**

******_Ella Grace, daughter of Nyx_**

**********_TAG, The Awesome Girl. (Five awesome points if you get it :)_**

I don't try to be cheerful. Believe me, I don't. I can understand the severity of a situation most of the time. Sometimes, I don't get why everyone has their toga in a twist. I mean, really. So we have to go down the various levels of dungeons, face gross monsters, Death Eaters, and creepy little laughing freaks. I don't get the fuss.

When Frodo had to go to Mordor, did he let the depressing odds (or the orcs) get him down? Yes. Yes he did. And do you know what happened to him? He got his finger bitten off by a crazy thing with a split personality. I don't know about you, but I love my finger. I feel that a pleasant outlook should spare this useful appendage from an equally horrible demise.

Plus, it's kind of fun watching peoples faces when I start singing Christmas songs.

"Jolly old Saint Nicolas, lean your ear this way. Don't you tell a single soul, what I'm going—ouch!" Nico, your foot is big. It hurts when you step on my toes. Darn you, Nico, for having big, smelly feet. I dub thee Big Smelly Feet Boy. "Was that really necessary?"

He glowered at me. "Do you even care that she is gone?" he accused.

Now, that stung. "She isn't gone, Nico. Karson is _missing_."

"That's the same thing!"

"Idiot," I said with a grin. "The past is _gone._ Thea's sanity is _gone._ Dead people are _gone._ Karson is missing. She's still here."

Nico said nothing for a minute. He just stared. "I don't get how your brain works."

"I'll give you some advice," I told him softly. "Don't take everything as hard as it really is. Tread lightly, think lightly. Otherwise, you'll just drive yourself insane. Our crazy friend downstairs is a good example."

"My dad, or Thea?"

"I was referring to Thea, but I guess either person would work."

"Wise words from a mad person."

"Our lives aren't easy, Nico," I told him, almost sternly. "Don't make it harder on yourself by thinking all negatively. It's almost worse than admitting that you're wrong. Because, honestly, things are never as bad as you all think they are."

"I know!" said Nathan out of nowhere. "If you guys get wrinkles in your twenties and turn prematurely gray, it's your own fault."

"Assuming we live that long," Nico muttered absently.

Everyone had been fairly absent-minded since that freaky message came on over the intercom. I mean, honestly, how creepy can you get? Sounded like fun though.

...

Wait, I skipped that part.

Now you're all full of suspense! My evil plan has worked! _Muwahahahahahahahaha!_

I get a million awesome points for being awesome. I am now the awesomest person in this room. Of course, we all knew that already. Pshhhhhh.

Or not. Maybe you're just annoyed and want me to continue with the story. You get, like, -infinity awesome points for _not_ being able to comprehend my awesomeness. Or just not being awesome in general. Because all of us awesome people know that ranting is the best way to pass the time when your rival and best friend has been kidnapped by a serial killer who has a thing for leaving creepy messages on the intercom to get under your skin.

Not that it worked, because I'm still singing Christmas songs.

Actually, I probably should continue with the chapter. Sigh. No fun.

I'll just kind of rewind to that part. Let me take my handy dandy Life Remote and hit the button...

We were all still freaking out that Karson was gone (or missing, depending on your outlook on life) after we had just been talking to her. We still thought that maybe she had just wandered off.

"Maybe another little laughing creeper got her," David commented morbidly. "Freaky little things."

"Or something worse," Nico retorted. There he goes again. Being all pessimistic. Will he ever learn that the Answer to Life's Problem is simply being happy, like moi, 24/7? Doubt it. And it is. Believe me, I got it from a legitimate source.

Myself!

Another couple awesome points for me!

Just when I was about to scold the gloomy Gus for being, well, gloomy, there was an eerie crackling, a bit of moaning, and a lot of clinking chains. Oh, and some horror music playing in the background.

Just kidding.

There was just a couple of coughs and the sound of some guy clearing his throat. Not kidding about the horror music though. You could hear the _click_ as he pressed the button.

"This should be interesting," Cass murmured. Nathan readily agreed, although I'm pretty sure Nathan wasn't taking it the same way as Cass, because he was grinning broadly while she looked sullen.

"Can you hear me?" a male voice asked into the microphone.

"Loud and clear!" I answered. David elbowed me. "Ouch. That hurt."

"Since Karson was just discovered to be missing and now a guy is playing horror music over the speaker, I have a feeling the two things are related," he said, eyes wide. "What if he, like, killed her or something? And now he's going to kill us!"

"But before that, he's going to introduce himself and have a cup of coffee," Nico added dryly.

"Honestly, David. You're such a Drama Queen." I flapped my hand at him.

"Are you still there?" asked the voice nervously.

"Here and waiting," Cass muttered.

"Okay. Well, just to clear something up, I actually did take the little blonde thing you call Karson."

No one said anything.

"Hmmmm. I kind of wanted a reaction to the effect of screams of terror and dismay. You don't think you could, you know, squeal a little? No?"

I laughed.

"I suppose not. Well, anyway-"

"_CARL! GET AWAY FROM THE MICROPHONE!"_

David and Nico jumped at the sudden change in tone. The second voice was loud, booming, and kind of hurt my ears. Cass took a step back and Nathan raised an eyebrow, slightly amused, slightly fascinated. Lora had no reaction at all.

"Y-yes, sir." Carl, the Bumbling Moron, backed away from the microphone. The second speaking hit a button to turn off the music, but supposedly press SKIP, because a second later, _The Sound of Music_ was playing loudly.

"_CARL!"_

"Sorry, sir! So sorry!" I could almost see him bowing on the floor like you would to a temperamental tyrant.

"_OUT!"_

"Of course, sir. So sorry, sir." The faint clatter of a door opening and closing echoed from the sound system.

"_Imbecile,"_ muttered the second speaking.

"Oh, good word." I clapped for him. "Twenty five awesome points!"

"_Excuse me?"_ I pictured a big man with a shiny shaved head, a vein in his neck or forehead bulging, as his face got more and more red. Mission accomplished.

"Ella," David hissed in my. "Stop."

"Why ever so, Worrywart?"

"Excuse me if I don't want you getting taken by a guy with a loud voice and his idiot of a sidekick."

"Like they could," I whispered back.

"They took Karson," he reminded me. "Obviously, Thing #2 isn't as big a moron as Thing #1."

"Aw, you made a Dr. Seuss reference." I smiled at him. "Don't worry. If I die, who is going to save Karson?"

He said nothing. He didn't have to, because Thing #2 came back on.

"_What the boy said is true,"_ he boomed. _"We have the girl. We are currently watching you all very closely."_ I could see the grin on his face from his tone. _"I take it you all want her back."_

It wasn't a question. Once again, nobody said anything, but for a totally different reason. Before, we were kind of afraid of laughing ourselves to death (which was obviously the Bumbling Moron's superpower). Now, we were just kind of afraid. Mostly for Karson.

"_Well then. Let's play a game. The girl, Karson, will be the prize."_

"I bet Thea simply _adores_ you," I taunted again. Force of habit. I've got to fix that. Maybe see a therapist. -100 awesome points for going to therapy.

Surprisingly, the man laughed_. "She does,"_ he admitted. _"But I digress."_

"He has quite the vocabulary for a psycho," I whispered to Nathan, who heartily agreed.

"_Before the game can be played, I'll tell you the rules."_ A pause, most likely for dramatic effect. "_There will be three players. The rest will be staying where you are. I have released two of the most terrifying creatures on this floor. They are like nothing you will have seen before. These are the creations of magic and scientific experimentation."_

"I have a question!" I said suddenly, raising my hand before realizing that it wouldn't matter, because he could see me. Wait, he said he could. I waved it a little to make sure.

"_Yes?" _

"Will they be oozing?"

"_Oozing?"_

"Yeah! Like, bodily fluids. Will they be secreting pus and mucus and other gross substances?"

"Why would he tell you that?" I heard Carl asked pompously from the background.

"CARL!"

"So sorry, sir. Just leaving, sir."

"I bet he fell on his head as a child," Cass said.

"Anyhow, back to the game," I said.

"But you just asked—" Nico started.

I shushed him. "It's not important. I like games."

"_Continuing."_ He cleared his throat. _"The point of the game is to kill or be killed. If you all can defeat the monsters, you will have won, and Karson will be returned."_

"Got it! When do we start?" Nico asked eagerly.

"_I haven't finished."_

Again, silence surrounded us. You could cut the tension with a butter knife. I'm not entirely sure why you would want to, but if you had a spare butter knife in your pocket and you had a craving for a slice of tension pie, you could definitely fill that craving.

Too bad I left my handy dandy butter knife in my _other_ pants pocket. At least I didn't forget my handy dandy Life Remote! The Other Answer to Life's Problems! Really, you should get one of these.

"_There are two ways to lose this game."_

"That isn't fair!" David cried. "There is only one way to win!"

"_Aren't heroes supposed to do better under pressure? Or aren't you a hero?"_

"Not if I have people like you and Thea as an example. I'd rather be normal." It's true. David Jane is probably the more normal demigod that ever walked this earth. Excluding myself. Unless you consider being unimaginably awesome as abnormal. I don't.

"David," Cass whispered, putting a finger to her lips. "Continue with the instruction."

"_Very well. The first way to lose is if one of the three is given a fatal injury, dies, or is defeated."_

"Any of us?" Lora piped.

"_Any of the three chosen. The second way to lose..." _Another dramatic pause._ "Is if you cannot defeat the monsters and save the victim by the time an hour has passed."_

"There's a time limit?" raged Nico.

I asked the question I'm sure we were all wondering. "What happens if we lose?"

I could see the big bald man with the shiny head twist his lips into a devilish grin, showing teeth that were pointed canines. It might have been a dramatization, but I'm pretty sure I'm dead on. "You die."

"Ick!" Lora squealed, seemingly appalled. I doubted she was as horrified as she acted.

"Karson? Or the players?" Cass asked. That's our little revenge-obsessed ex-Cleaner, keeping her head in the face of certain death, blah, blah, blah. I saw her puking a few minutes after.

"_Everyone. The victim, the players, and those of the party waiting in the hall. Each of you will have your lives snuffed out. The game starts now."_ I heard crackling as he turned off the microphone.

"Doesn't even give us time to choose our players," Cass murmured grudgingly.

"Well, the first two are obvious," I told her. "Me, because I've known her the longest. And Nico, because he is helplessly in love with her."

"Hey!" he cried in protest, going red.

"Down, boy," I told his, scolding him like a dog. "I'm certain it's mutual. Just kiss her already and get it over with."

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about," he insisted.

"Oh? So you don't want to go?" With a raised eyebrow to accompany my smirk, I gave him a fantastic pointed look. More awesome points! Nico gets -200,000 points for not confessing his everlasting love to the readers in heart -wrenching and somewhat cheesy manor. He needs to watch _Titanic._ "Oh well. I'll make you come anyway. Me, Nico, and Nathan, 'cause he's awesome. How's that?"

"Fine," Cass insisted. "But hurry back. If we take much longer..."

"No need to finish that thought, thank you." The three of us ran back down the hallway with varying mindsets. Nathan was excited, I was running off of around fifty Redbull's, and Nico was pulled between rage and embarrassment.

And now, fast forward on my handy dandy Life Remote, and we are back where we were! This thing is so convenient.

We were in a really big cage.

Don't ask me how, because it's really embarrassing.

Just kidding (again!). Since when have I cared? Never! I'll care when Peter Pan betrays the Lost Boys! And we all know that will never, ever happen. I mean, Neverland would be thrown into turmoil. And then where would I spend my summers? Well, I'd still have Narnia...

Actually, there were arrows that lit up on the floor. I followed those. I probably should have stopped once they started into the cage. But I wanted to see what would happen! It's like reading a terrible book. It's so ridiculous that you just have to see what the horrible author thinks up in the end. Hopefully, this is not one of those books.

Nico gave me all sorts of grief afterwards.

"How was I supposed to know that the door would lock behind us? That only happens in horror films!" I informed him.

"It's true," Nathan observed. "Or in Scooby-Doo episodes."

"Yeah! See? It'll be just like a Scooby-Doo episode. It's like a dream come true!"

He glowered at me with dark eyes. He was probably imagining dipping me into a large pout of boiling nacho cheese. Or was that punishment already taken? Maybe forcing me to eat artichoke hearts for all of eternity would be more original. Or putting me with (shudder) normal people?

Ick.

"It'll be fine! There were arrows! This is obviously where we are supposed to be," I reasoned.

"Or where he wants us to die," Nico countered. "Did you ever consider that he doesn't want to play a game at all? He just wants to separate us so that he can pick us off one by one?"

"Psh. No way."

"Then why would he send three heroes to battle two monsters?"

"It's probably for backup," Nathan told him. "We can team up in case one of the things is too much for you."

"Or he just wants someone to witness us getting eaten," I offered. "It's just another option," I defended when I saw Nico picturing artichoke hearts.

"There are our opponents," Nathan said after a moment of silence, pointing to the other side of the cage.

I would explain what they looked like, but I'm lazy. So I'll just shove that off onto whoever does the next chapter.

**FINALLY! I UPDATED! A MILLION AWESOME POINTS!**

**I found a compromise between doing Ella's pov and having her fight twice. Yay me!**

**Oh, and a BAZILLION awesome points to me for listening to Madonna during the making of this chapter.**

**Review! And then you'll be as awesome as me!**


	25. What Happens when you Explode a Booger

**a.n. Sooo...yeah. :)**

******_Nico di Angelo, son of Hades_**

I love Ella like a sister, but I am sincerely afraid for her mental health.

"Let's follow the arrows!" she says. "Let's go into the giant cage!" she says. "Let's have fun getting killed by a big mutant!" she says.

And she makes _me_ describe them? Thanks, Ella. You suck.

And now she's telling me to get over it and move on.

The big thing that came out of the gloom of the cave that a certain someone got us stuck in looked a lot like a giant ball of mucus. So those of you who are wondering about the question Ella asked the guy on the speaker, yes, they ooze. A lot.

Honestly, he looked like a little boy with a cold had chuck a booger into a vat of toxic waste and left it to mutate into a horrible green, oozing marshmallow that made me want to throw up everything I had in my stomach. But did I? No, I did not. Because that would not be manly.

It did creep up in my throat quite a bit though. It's like what happens when girls start obsessing over a certain sparkly vampire in my presence. It's a little off-putting.

After that rant of ADHD, I shall continue.

There were two, actually. The other was kind of like a blue Frankenstein. Some idiot put a bunch of monsters together and got a big glob of flesh and claws and drool. But no, this one did _not _ooze.

"I call that one!" Ella cried, pointing at the blue one.

"That's not fair!" I shouted. "I wanted that one!"

"Are you guys in high school or not?" Nathan asked casually.

I just got scolded on maturity by Nathan Grace.

Wow.

I thought the apocalypse wasn't until 2012.

Well, that's embarrassing. "I'm still taking the blue one."

"But it _oozes!_" Ella complained. "It's like a giant booger!"

"Yeah, but it's smaller," I reasoned. "And I'm better than you." I grinned.

She gasped. "LIES! All of them! Liar!" Ella pointed an accusing finger in my direction. "Bad Nico!"

"Am I a dog?"

"No! You're not cute enough. Maybe a homeless one."

"With fleas!" Nathan added happily.

"Why does the world hate me?" I asked no one.

"Obviously because you hate the world!"

"Shut up, Ella."

The whole time, the Booger Monster and Blue Frankenstein just stood there, blinking dumbly. The stupid part of me thought that it wouldn't be too hard. The part of me that had grown up a demigod knew that the stupid part was being stupid.

I really needed to find Karson before Ella and Nathan began to rub off even more.

"Fine," Ella huffed. "I'll take the Green Marshmallow, but you owe me a cupcake or something. Maybe an ice cream cone. Probably both."

"Whatever."

"_Angst!_"

"Shut _up_, Ella!"

"You know," said Nathan. "I think I'm going to take a nap." He sat down on the dirty floor with a thump and tried to make himself comfortable.

"But you're the best out of the three of us!" I told him venomously.

"And being the best takes a good nights sleep, which I didn't get. I'm catching up." He waved a hand. "Night!"

"Nathan. You're an _insomniac!_"

He was already pretending to be asleep.

Lazy bum.

"_Players, step forward."_

Why did we ever listen to the creepy guy with the microphone and his stupid sidekick Carl? This was not a heroic way to die. Getting eaten by a booger. Fun.

Ella started before me, kicking the guy in the side of the head, but her foot got stuck. Go figure. Before I could change directions and help her, her foot exploded. Both Ella and the monster went flying backwards, though Ella managed not to land on her butt.

I looked at her ankle, but her foot was still firmly attached, although her shoe had been tattered to bits. She tore the bits off and removed her left shoe before standing straight up again.

"What was that?" asked Nathan, alert as ever.

"I knew you weren't asleep," I told him sourly.

"Oops, sorry. I sleep talk."

Whatever, Nathan.

Ella, in response, held up a fist. Black shadows exploded around her pale hand, tearing the long sleeve of her shirt into shreds. "Oops." In addition to removing her shoes, she rolled up her sleeves to her elbow tightly. She laughed. "I've been working on it for two years."

I stared at her opened mouth.

"I can only do it with my hands and feet right now. Maybe some day I will be able to do it without tearing up my clothes."

"I'm amazed your skin isn't the same way," Nathan told her. "Good job."

Ella tried not to look too excited. It didn't work.

"Um...guys?" I tried. "Evil Booger and Blue Boy? Trying to kill us? _Karson_?" I reminded them.

"Oh, yeah!  
Booger Man lost about half of what I guess was his face. It's hard to tell. One again, it was standing there, blankly.

"Why is it doing that?" I asked. "Why wouldn't it just attack us while we were talking?"

Nathan laughed. "Isn't it obvious?"

"Obviously not."

"It's so it will take longer. If we need a break, we get it. He doesn't want to speed things up by making us defend ourselves. If we take longer than an hour to defeat them, we lose. It's already been about forty-five minutes since we got into this game. We have fifteen minutes to beat these guys to a pulp. Get to it!"

Darn you, Nathan, for being right while you sleep talk.

Unfortunately for me, I didn't have any cool new technique to show off. While I was torn between saving Karson quickly and having some fun at the monsters expense, my choice was made for me.

"_Please, no skeletons, Mr. di Angelo, son of Hades."_

How the crap did he know that?

Then I remembered that one time when I had laundry duty and I had used them to help speed things up. Oops. I knew I should have paid that nerd to do it.

Breathing deeply, I took out my sword and, knowing I had to make the first move, charged.

He pushed me back without blinking. I tried to cut his arm, but my blade was met by the dull ring of metal on metal. Then I knew I was in deep doodoo. Of course, I had to be a sissy and pick the big one to get away from the ooze. That guy had hands as strong as iron.

Evil Serial Killer, you suck almost as much as Ella does.

"Do you need help?" asked Nathan lazily from where he was.

"Dude, decide whether you're asleep or not and stick with it," I told him irritably.

"Well, do you?"

"Go back to bed, insomniac."

"Will do." This time he added snoring to his act. I will never understand how those Grace's can be so at ease in the face of danger. It was fascinating.

I turned back to Frankenstein. The black iron sword in my hand glinted cruelly in the dim light. If I ever had one reserve about the sword I had, it was that it looked evil. It didn't exactly make people like you.

It did, however, get the job done every time. And that's all that matters. Because people liking you is over rated.

Two minutes later, I was heaving, Nathan was still "asleep" and the hem of Ella's pants was tattered. My monster had lost two fingers, and Ella's was still oozing.

What a gross word. _Oozing._

Whether it was oozing or not, Ella was getting pissed. She wasn't in bloodlust mode, thank the gods, but her eyebrows were knitting together bit by bit with each hit both of us took.

Nathan was still sleeping.

Screw you.

My method was to cut off the smaller pieces of my monster. Fingers and ears. At one point I gouged out his eyes. It was disgusting. Little yellow orbs that rolled marbles. I almost threw up again.

But with the thing blind and flailing, I thought I had a better chance than before. Of course, provided that he didn't fall over and sit on me. That's almost as bad as getting eaten by a booger. Being sat on by Frankenstein.

Man, this is just not my day.

"Nico, hurry up! I need your help real fast!" Ella shouted.

"Hurry up? Are you kidding?" I shouted back. "Get Nathan to do it!"

"Why? He's asleep."

"Oh my gods, he is _not!_"

"Are you calling my family a liar?"

"Ella, shut up and beat up your booger."

Big Blue reached out for me, looking like he wanted a hug. I didn't really want to get hugged to death either, so I barely dodged. I could feel wind at his hands passed my head. Then I had an idea too.

I plunged my sword into the things wrist and then through the floor, pinning him down. "Ella! Explode?"

"Gotcha! Switch!" she scrambled over to my side of the cage. I held off Mucus boy as Ella place her hands firmly on the blue guy's head. I heard her mutter, counting to ten, building up energy I guess. Then something that looked suspiciously like a mushroom cloud erupted from her, his head turning into ash in her hands.

Ew.

On the plus side, my sword, which Ella threw to me in a dangerous fashion, sliced through the guy's head like butter. On the down side, I had no idea whether it was his head or not, because little circle I was aiming for kept moving around.

"Nico, I need to touch him with both hands!" Ella shouted, coming back to me. "It works better that way."

"What do you want me to do?" I asked.

"Fly!" She pointed at the lamp hanging above us.

"Excuse me?" I asked, a split second before I really got it. "Oh..." I ran over to the bars of the cage and started climbing. The monster didn't move, just kept his green little eyes on me as I went up and up.

"Are you ready?" I asked.

"Ready when you are." Ella lowered her center of gravity, preparing to run.

After a few second of inner screaming and panic, I launched myself off of the bars and grabbed the lamp that hung in the center of the cage. I was more or less still screaming in my head. _I'm insane. Ella's insane. This situation is insane. Nathan is still asleep._

But it worked. Two beady little eyes followed me, looking at me above it blankly. I moved myself to a position so it looked like I was going to attack it. He didn't pay any attention to Ella.

Which was good, because that's when she took off running, straight into the mucus ball, plunging her hands, palms flat into the big guy's chest. "Ewewewewewewew." And then the guy splattered, flinging mucus everywhere, mostly on Ella, quite a bit on Nathan (thank you karma) and not on me at all. I hid behind the lamp.

But apparently karma didn't like me as much I thought it did, because a second later I heard a crack and the lamp came crashing down. Ouch.

As I sat there massaging my butt, clapping echoed through the room. We turned, and there was a guy that I guessed was the man who had started this whole thing. Mostly because I recognized him.

He was a murderer who had been caught by the police only to escape five days before his trial. His face had been everywhere, and even a recluse like me knew him. It had only been a year before.

"So that was Thea, too, huh?" Ella asked, smiling childishly.

"You kids are very interesting." He took a few steps toward. A red headed boy behind him, who we all supposed was Carl, trotted over to Nathan and kicked him hard in the stomach.

"Wake u—" he started to shout in his ear, but a slap to the face made him stop mid-sentence.

"Dude, I've been awake the whole time," Nathan informed him, standing up.

"You have dirt on your butt," Ella told him casually, like we weren't standing in front of a serial killer and his loser of a disciple.

"Oops!" Nathan twisted, trying to see the seat of his pants to more accurately clean them off.

The murderer's eye twitched. I don't think that's a good sign. But he continued. "We have the girl."

Carl lugged in Karson, tied up and gagged and very thoroughly unconscious. I bit in my fury. I don't think attacking a murderer would be any better than taunting him or teaching casually.

Ella skipped over to her, but her smile seemed for like a sneer when she looked at him then the usual sunny one she kept plastered on her face. I walked by him coldly. He laughed. "A bit chilly in here, isn't it?"

I glared at him over my shoulder. Carl took a step back. Percy said that I had eyes that were either those of a genius or a madman, just like my dad. Right then, I'm sure I could have frozen him with little more than a cold glare as I switched into mad mode.

Nathan put a hand on the big man's shoulder like they were old friends. "I think you should go."

"Is that a threat?" he asked, a wolfish grin widening on his scarred face.

"A warning, more like," said Nathan, walking over to Karson. "Karson is family. You hurt my family. Nico is almost ready to kill you, and I won't hold him back. I might even join him." He looked at the man and the red head with a cheerful smile. "It wouldn't be hard to kill you, if I really wanted to."

"Thea would be angry," said Carl.

"Thea can go die in a hole." With little effort, I cut her bonds and Nathan picked her up piggy-back style, walking calmly out of the room. Ella and I followed without a word.

"Are we just going to let him go? He's a murderer!" I hissed, still seething.

"Dude, he's in a cage." Nathan grinned, like normal.

Ella held up a golden key. "Along with being helplessly charming, I'm also an accomplished pickpocket."

"You locked him in?" I gaped at them both.

"More or less," said Ella savagely.

Looking over my shoulder, I saw that the golden bars of the cage had been covered in something inky black, a large globe made of impenetrable shadow.

I smiled. "I love you guys."

Awww! Nico is getting attached.

******************************************************************************************Sorry it is soooooo short. I am currently suffering from lazy-itis. And yes, that is a real disease. **

******************************************************************************************I just realized that I've posted a chapter where the whole thing is in bold. I promise that was an accident. Something weird happens when I upload a chapter onto doc manager. It happened on this one too. Don't worry, though. I fixed it this time. :)  
**

******************************************************************************************However, I have some news! When Favors of Shadow is over (sigh. All good things have to end), I'll be starting another Nico fanfic. I've already got chapter one done, so I'll just give you all a little sneak peek. :)**

_Dear Diary..._

_ My life is officially a mass of misery and hatred and bad smells (that last one being my brothers feet). In all honesty, I should have seen this coming when they gave me this stupid thing. Why else would they give a sulky teenager a diary? In my opinion, it is much better suited for a girl to gush about cute boys and gossip. I should give this to the Goodwill, just to help my fellow man. But mom wont let me and dad can't stop laughing at me every time he sees my face. I imagine it has something to do with my sulky expression..._

"Tess!" my mom shouted. "Get your nose out of that book and pay attention."

"Mom," I sighed. "You're the one that was all 'Come on Tess! This will be good for you. A chance to express your pent up anger and depression.' What happened to that, mom?"

"Don't get smart."

"Right. I would rather be stupid. Thanks for that."

Dad looked at me over the shoulder of the car seat. "Tess, you need a pick-me-up."

"So, what? An ice cream cone?" I asked, looking at the passing McDonalds. "Gosh, dad. That's so first grade." I rolled my eyes.

My brother hit me with a wadded up piece of paper. I pinched the inside of his bare foot. Howling, he kicked me in the face. "That hurts, Tess!" he shouted at me.

"Yeah? Well your feet stick, brother dearest!" I shouted back, smacking his foot away with my diary. I figured it was the best use I would ever get out of it anyway. My mother didn't share this viewpoint.

"Tessa, stop that!"

"Moooooom."

"Shut up, _Tessa."_

"You shut up, Cason! Gosh, put some shoes on, you nasty!" He made another kick at my head. Since he couldn't make contact, he decided shoving them in my face was good compensation. "Cason!"

"What?"

"This doesn't agree with our terms!" I made a line with my finger on the car seat. "This is my side. You are on my side."

"Take a chill pill!"

"Mom!"

"Children!" mom said is such a voice dad almost swerved off the road.

"Shannon, give me some warning!"

I dug in my bag and pulled out a water bottle, still cold, with determined hands. I deliberately screwed off the cap, and we all know what comes next.

Cason thought it was a waste of a water bottle. I thought that I had just made a sacrifice for mankind. He shook out his blond hair, throwing water all over the windows and me.

I guess Cason was cute, in that scruffy, surfer kind of way. He had frosted blond hair that never stayed flat on his head and big gray eyes, like me, only my hair was just past my shoulders and I had bangs cut straight over my forehead hiding a breakout. He is tan, with broad shoulders covered in a red hoodie.

Instinctively, I covered my diary so it wouldn't be rained on. I mean, it was a book, and I loved books. Then I realized what I was doing and started shoving it in my bag with gusto.

"Tess," dad warned. He's an archeologist who has been just about everywhere. He had warm brown eyes and reddish brown hair. "Your mother gave you that book to write in. So write!"

"Fine!"

_Dear Diary,_

_ My dad is a turd. Glad you agree._

Dad laughed like he knew what I had written. He probably did. But it didn't make me feel better like usual.

You know why? Because my parents officially decided that my life wasn't suckish enough and sent me to Avery. That is, Avery Institution for the Creatively Talented, AICT. Basically, boarding school for crazy artist-types.

Not that I had never been to boarding school. Most people like me have. More than one, in fact. Let's see, I'm in ninth grade, so that means that I've been to nine different school approximately...five were public, one was Catholic (which just screamed irony to the ninth degree) and that would mean that three were boarding schools. But Avery was the first one for the artistically gifted.

So, no. Normally, a daughter of Athena (which I obviously am) would not be thought to be gifted in anything besides strategy and junk, but that's totally a stereotype. No lie. My parents had enrolled me in...well, I'll let you guess.

Drama

Music

Art

Writing

If you guessed C, well, then you don't know me at all because I can't draw a flower without it looking like an atomic bomb. Writing...hello? Dyslexia? Drama...too dramatic.

That leaves music, which I can do. Well. I play three instruments: trumpet, flute, and guitar. None of those are too much alike, but I like to be a well-rounded person.

Anyway, let's not brag about my musical prowess. Let us return to my issue with being driven off to boarding school [again.]

Mostly because my dad and step-mom just wanted to be home alone without Thing One and Thing Two destroying the house with their celestial bronze weapons and us "eating them out of house and home." Also, because of Thing Two over there, sticking his feet in my face.

Cason was a sophomore, two years ahead of me. Cason is good with a paintbrush, which I really can't help but be jealous of. It isn't fair that he can draw millions of beautiful pictures while I put a pencil to paper and it ends up looking like Hiroshima.

But I guess him in art was good, because the dormitories and classrooms were on a completely different floor. From what I'd seen, the dorms were nice, each with a nice view of the ocean around us, fully stocked mini-fridge, and microwave in case we craved that microwavable burrito sitting their, tantalizingly. I hate diets. They suck.

The only thing I didn't like about the dorms it the beds; more specifically, the fact that there were two of them. This just did not fly. I did like that just around the corner were the guys dorms, but that wasn't enough to redeem my parents.

Unfortunately, my parents didn't want redemption. They wanted me to get the heck out of their car.

"Tess, honestly," signed Cason, jumping onto the hot pavement barefooted, grabbing both of our suitcases. I grabbed my backpack and Cason's art case. My personal instruments had been shipped over from Ohio ahead of time. "It's not like you to throw a fit."

I raised one eyebrow at him. "It's not like you to take my suitcase without complaining."

"We've been traveling together since birth," he said with a grin. I remembered why I loved my brother. He looked up at the school, squinting his eyes against the glare of the sun. This was the farthest we'd ever been from home. All the other schools had been relatively close, so if we messed up, we'd have mommy and daddy to call on. I knew that if I screwed up my whole life, I'd have to fix it on my own. And Cason knew it too.

"Guess we'd better grow up sometime." With a sigh, he walked lightly up the steps to the front door. I shifted our bags on my shoulders and followed him into our new life.


	26. Hungarian Stupid

**ALoHa! I'm giving you guys a heads up. We're officially moving this Saturday, and until August, I really don't have internet. I'll do my best to update (Callie offered to update for me if I send her the chapter) but I'm not certain it will work. Just to let you know.**

"Well?"

"They lived," Reginald answered stiffly.

Thea smiled. "Just like I knew they would."

"I don't understand why you make them do all of these chores," Daphne said from where she sat in the corner. "We all know what you really have in mind."

"Daphne!" scolded Reginald in a hushed voice, glaring, afraid to anger the woman seated on her throne.

"Well, we do," Daphne said, unfazed. "Keeping something like that quiet is near impossible, even for the Mistress."

Thea glanced over at Daphne, hearing the message behind the eerie girl's words. Daphne met her gaze without blinking, looking back blankly with those icy silver eyes.

"I have already told you," she said, expressionless. "Those children are demigods, but they are still children. Children are reckless, impatient, and impulsive."

"Meaning what, exactly?" asked Thea coldly.

"Meaning that there is absolutely no guarantee that this plan you have set out will happen the way you want it to." Daphne sniffed. "It would have been different if it had only been Cass, but she has already done something unexpected, hasn't she?"

Reginald looked at Thea questioningly.

"Bringing the others," she told him. "I would never have expected Cass to bring the other half-bloods."

"Face it," the little girl said. "Cass had changed. The anger that clouded her judgment has faded slightly. The mind you were toying with has changed."

"For the better, though?" Thea countered. "I think not."

"Why on earth would it be worse?"

"She is dependent on the boy," Thea said simply. "Not just the boy either, but the whole group of them have become a crutch."

"Support, you mean."

Reginald looked at the young girl in horror. "Daphne, enough!"

"No!" she said firmly. "Thea doesn't understand. I'm trying to make her understand that thinking Cass is the same as all those years ago is a mistake. Underestimating any of them will lead to disaster."

"Are you saying that I can no longer control her?" Thea asked vehemently. Daphne's back stiffened, her bored demeanor replaced with tension. Thea slid back in her chair easily, like that last sentence had taken all of her energy. "No, that is not an issue." She smiled nostalgically. "This little mind is not immune to my poison."

_Nathan Grace, son of Nyx_

"What. The crap."

"Language, Nico!"

"It's like they transported half of the Sahara in there!"

It was true. We had just made our way back to wear our trusty companions awaited us, and my back was killing me. Not that Karson is excessively fact, but man! Lay off the jelly donuts. I'm pretty sure carrying her threw my back out.

Anyway, back on track. Cass, Lora, and David were standing in a thick layer of sand, which, as I'm pretty sure David didn't have any sand-related abilities that he hadn't told us about, I had to assume were monster remains.

Really, I mean, when you think about it, it's kind of nasty. They were standing in monster remains. Except for Lora. Lora was _sitting_ in monster remains, making a sand castle.

I have never been more proud.

Actually, I would have joined her, except that the three of them were behind bars, looking kind of sulky. Especially Cass, who looked like she was about to slam her head in to the wall. Multiple times. Which I would have found hilarious, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't the intended effect.

"Oh," said David mildly, who had been shaking the bars a moment ago like a crazy person from an old movie. "There you are."

"What are you guys doing?" Nico asked accusingly, eyeing Lora menacingly as she grinned at him.

"Dude, I'm making a sandcastle," she told him, like it was obvious.

Which it was! Honestly, I never knew Nico could be so dense.

"I meant what are you doing in the cage?" he rephrased, clearly too tired to come up with a witty comeback.

"Would you mind getting us out first?" Cass asked, coming over to us and pointing at the key ring hanging on the other side of the room impatiently through the bars.

"Yeah!" David agreed. "I'm having a minor claustrophobic breakdown in here."

"Minor?" asked Nico, jamming the keys into the rusty lock with difficulty.

"When I start hyperventilating, you need to be worried," David told him, stretching his arms as he walked out of the tiny room. "Unless you want me to start screaming, in which case everything would be according to plan."

"Noted," Nico said with a small grin. He lugged Karson off of my back and propped her up against the wall. "So, how did you get into a cage with enough monster guts to make your own beach?"

"It was our own little game," Cass said bitterly, inspecting a cut on her arm that was oozing (what a gross word) blood morbidly.

"To tide us over while we waited for you," David concluded.

"I thought he was very nice to think of our own entertainment," Lora added, crushing her sandcastle under foot as she passed.

"A guy in a brown robe who looked like a Sith Lord—"

"David, enough with the pop culture references!" Cass snapped, rubbing her temple.

"You agreed that I could tell the story!" he huffed.

"I am as big a fan of _Star Wars_ as the next guy, but, I mean, honestly! First he's a Death Eater and now a Sith Lord! If you make a Hannah Montana reference, I might have to slap your face."

"Can we get on with this?" Nico asked, tapping his foot in impatience. Funny. I never pictured his as a tap-the-foot kind of guy. But, of course, looking at him, you would never expect that his feet were pungent enough to wake up some old guy who has been in a coma for the past, oh, five hundred years.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry," David said sheepishly. "So anyway, some guy dressed like that Daphne girl and her dead sidekick comes into the room all menacingly and grins kind of creepily at us like this." David did his best creeper imitation, which was sadly (and a little disturbingly) better than I thought it would be.

"Then he points down the hallway, the way you guys came, and we hear this thundering, and all of a sudden, like, fifteen hellhounds pound down the hallway towards us which—"

Lora pushed her hand in David's face and latched on like an octopus. "Dude, you're taking way too long." She looked at us, tugging on one of her black braids. "I'll finish."

David, looking dejected, pouted in a corner.

"Anyway, so the hellhounds come an round us up, and basically corner us in there," she said, jerking her thumb behind us at the cage we had found them in. "So we go all Jackie Chan on their miserable non-souls and after a while they are all dead with minimal damage."

"But then," started Cass. "We look over towards the door to leave and see the guy closing the door with that stupid smile on his face.

"Did he say anything?" asked Ella from where she was crouching over by David, tapping his shoulder repeated in the hope of getting some sort of response.

"He said, 'so it's easier to round you up once your friends fail.'" Lora's man voice was spot on, which was even creepier than David's creepy smile. "They thought you would die, can you believe that?"

"Yeah, I can," Ella said. "They _oozed._"

"Ick," Lora said sympathetically. "At least they didn't drool." She picked up the hem of her shirt, which I saw was soaking wet. I had a really weird image of a Death Eater with a Saliva Cannon 2.0, shooting globs of spit all over the place.

Then I regained control of my ADHD and managed to somehow refocus on the [multiple] problems at hand. "What are we going to do with her?" I asked, motioning towards the still unconscious Karson.

Ella walked over, leaving David to mourn his lost storytelling, and inspected Karson's sleeping face.

"Wake Up Technique: #248 or 571?" she asked.

Good choices! I knew I raised her right. I pondered this life-changing question. "248, it's a classic. Besides, we don't have a can of sardines with us right now."

"Oh, you're right." Ella was genuinely disheartened. "That throws out 571, 134, _and_ 427."

"And 216," I reminded her.

"But you can use mayonnaise for that one instead though."

"Which we don't have either."

"The options are so limited without the necessary tools." She sighed. "Okay, fine. #248 it is." She crouched down so that she was right in front of Karson's face. Everyone else was looking at the two girls in fascination and a little bit of worry, like they were concerned for Karson's wellbeing. Well, you know what?

They should be.

Right at the most suspenseful moment, Ella drew back her hand and slapped Karson across the face with all of the strength she had. If Karson had laid off the jelly donuts, she would have gone flying across the hallway. Instead, I had to settle for a minor four or five feet.

Stupid America, with your delicious fatty foods. Why must you make the growing teenage population obese with your tantalizing treats? You just completely ruined my day.

Of course, if Karson had flown and hit her head on the wall, if would have been a minor disaster and we would be right back where we started. But I would have survived, because it would be worth it.

"What the _crap, _Ella?" Karson shrieked, clutching her face.

"Good morning, sleepy head!" Ella cried in response, her arms in the air. "I missed you!" Then she slapped her again.

"What was that for?" Karson demanded.

"For getting yourself friggin' kidnapped, stupid! Hülye! Hah! Hungarian stupid! You are _Hungarian stupid!_"

The fact that the look of confusion on poor Karson's face was gone in a flash says something about their relationship.

"Then what was the first one for?" she questioned.

"For being asleep while I was fighting a giant booger!" Then Ella pinched the blond girls arm. "And, before you ask, that was just because I missed you."

Karson was torn between laughing and scowling, forming some sort of awkward hybrid that I wish I had a picture of.

And, while I wasn't exactly expecting Nico to run to Karson across a flowery meadow, screaming her name before making a heartfelt confession about how he is madly in love her (as was obvious to basically everyone on the planet, including my dad, who is the most dense person in the world in that subject), I was expecting him to say something. I was wrong.

I know, I know. Shocker. That never happens. I was a little surprised myself at my wrongness. Which is, in fact, a word. Thank goodness. It saved me the effort of making up an entirely new word, because my fragile brain is in no condition to think right now. Even typing this down is harmful to my health. I hope you all realize how much love you to tax my brain in such a way just to produce this amazing chapter.

You're welcome.

Moving on.

Instead of that whole meadow/confession thing that I have already explained, he just kind of stood behind everyone, happy, but uncertain. That is a bad character trait. He should see a therapist. Ella's going to a really good one right now. I should give Nico his number.

Karson looked up at him from time to time, but both of them wore stoic expressions whenever their eyes met. Is it just me, or do stoic expressions always look angry?

It's probably just me.

After explaining the issue with the layer of monster dust on the floor again, and a quick insulting conversation at Carl's expense, not to mention a rather graphic description of Booger Man and The Blue Wonder, (aren't superhero names just so much fun?) we were up and running.

More or less.

We had been in the tunnels for a long time. It's hard to gauge when we're constantly running from wannabe Death Eaters and drowning in pop culture references, escaping certain death dealt by boogers, and laughing at a serial killer's sidekick. The internal clock that is my stomach told it was _way_ past dinnertime. The clock on my watch agreed with that statement.

"Guys, it's already almost 1 o' clock," I told them, rubbing my tummy (yes, tummy) in hopes of someone getting the message. Lora handed me a granola bar discretely.

"So, what?" Cass asked, irritated. "Should we stop and take a nap?"

"No need to get snippy, thank you. I was just...saying."

Karson, who still had a red handprint on her face from where Ella had slapped her, fingered the numbers carved vertically on the wall beside the door to the stairwell. "There are three more stories, guys. We can't stop here to sleep."

"You've been asleep for a long time," David pouted. "Do I have bags under my eyes?" he asked Ella, who confirmed that he did. "Shoot."

"Well, _I'm_ not stopping," sniffed Cass heatedly. "I will leave you all behind if you stop."

"That isn't necessary," Lora said, getting up frm where she sat on the floor.

"Well, everyone else wants to put off doing their jobs," Cass remarked.

"Which is what?" asked Nico absently.

"Being heroes," she replied. "Or maybe you forgot."

"You are a little testy today," I [innocently] observed.

She turned around, blue-green eyes so hot I thought she was about to spontaneously combust. Which would have been a total mess. "You are suggesting that I put off saving my sister for a catnap," she said bluntly. "So, yeah, I'm a little heated."

"Dude, stop her before she starts spewing fire," David said softly. "She's really overreacting."

"We can't fight a whole organization without enough sleep," Ella said.

"You're an insomniac," Cass said dully, which we all recognized as the calm before the storm.

"Not everyone is," I told her cheerfully. "But that really isn't the point. I just happened to be pointing out the late hour at a bad time. No one suggested we stop to sleep."

"It was implied," she responded sourly.

I just shrugged, and, sensing the lingering danger, everyone started heading down the stairway. Cass and I were last, and when we were out of earshot, I whispered in her ear, "You need to calm down."

Cass glared at me. "Whatever."

I grabbed her arm so she wouldn't go ahead. "No, really. You need to calm down. You can't fight like this."

"I've been fighting like this for _years,_ Nathan. _Years._" She poked me hard with her finger. I had a bruise afterward, but that doesn't matter.

"And where did that get you?" I asked curiously. "In a hole?" I registered the look on her face. "An angry hole."

She went from angry to cold in a nanosecond, which might be a world record. "You don't know me, Nathan. You have no clue."

"I now you better than you think."

"Really?" she challenged. "What's my mothers name? _My_ middle name? My birthday? My favorite food?"

"I have absolutely no idea," I admitted sheepishly, because I honestly didn't.

"I've known you for a couple of months," Cass said, jaw set. "You can't scold me for not being calm."

"Because I don't know your birthday?" I asked skeptically. "Why on earth would that mean I knew you well? I don't remember Karson's birthday and she practically lives at our house."

"It's important," she told me frigidly.

"It's a date," I said easily. "It has absolutely nothing to do with your personality at all, which I know quite well. Unless, of course, you are all about, like, star signs or something, in which case I can't be much help."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You aren't as controlled as think you are," I told her harshly, which was mean, but she had to get it through her relatively thick head. "If you see her and lose it, someone is going to get hurt. You're job is to get Lee out of there, not exact revenge on Thea. Keep that in mind. Or else good intentions will turn rotten."

Cass didn't say anything. She just looked at me, steaming.

"If that happens," I told her in a more cheerful tone, "my family comes first. I won't let you hurt them."

"Aren't I family, too?" she muttered.

I sighed. "I can't protect you from yourself, idiot. If your good intentions _do_ turn rotten, I'll stop you without a second thought."

"Stop me?" she asked. "We've been through a lot. All of us have."

"What happened to 'you don't know me,' huh?" I reminded her innocently. "If you hurt Ella, or the twins, or Karson, or Nico, or David, or even Lora, I _will_ stop you, don't think I won't. And don't expect me to be merciful when it happens, which it will if this continues, just because of what we've been through." I offered her my elbow like a gentlemen, and she took it hesitantly. I grinned at her as I led her down the stairs. "I'm really good at forgetting."

**[insert ominous music here]**

**************************************************************************************************************************************Anyway, how'd you like it?**

**************************************************************************************************************************************Two things.**

**************************************************************************************************************************************1) You guys know that new story I'm working on? The one that I put a sneak peek off? Well, I need students. Lots of people go to this school. Certain slots are taken, like Aven's gay dancer friend. But I still need a lot more people. So, I'm going to let you guys offer character ideas. Just their information and crap. Thanks!**

**************************************************************************************************************************************2) We are coming to an end. Sadness. But DAPHNE will be in the next chapter! Cheers! I love her. And Nathan. :)**

**************************************************************************************************************************************3) Okay, so really three things.** **Let me know which chapter has been your favorite. I kind of want to know...**

**************************************************************************************************************************************REVIEW!  
**


	27. I am Most Certianly Not Worried at All

**Hello, hello, hello! I am back from the Land of No Internet! And let me tell you, it was a long , hard journey through a vast plain of infinite boredom and a lot of NCIS episodes. On the plus side, I finally found out what happened to Kate! I never knew…**

**On the downside, I haven't been able to see **_**A Very Potter Sequel**_** yet. You can see why I am distressed.**

**Ladies and gentlemen, who thinks it's time for some Della action?**

**Technically, it doesn't really matter what you think, because it's happening.**

**In reality, it does matter, because I want my readers to like me. Now is the time when I wrap up this ridiculously long authors note with a request (really a demand ;) that you review and whatnot, and tell you that the new story is coming along quite nicely. :)**

**Ella Grace, daughter of Nyx**

I am currently suffering from lack of awesome points. I have not made a witty comment at Karson's expense in a whole, like, chapter. Unless you count calling her stupid in another language. Which I don't. That was simply a declaration of friendship, because that's just how close we are.

And it's hard to insult someone when everyone is walking down a deep, dark, very, _very _steep stairwell in a depressed, rather gloomy mood.

So, being the natural optimist that I am, I had to be the conversation starter. What to do in a situation like this…

Why, sing Hannah Montana songs loudly, obviously.

"Ella. Shut it."

"Nobody's perfect, Nico," I told him, still humming. "You live and you learn it."

"You aren't going to live that long if you don't shut up."

"Oh, darn." I put on my best distressed face. "That was a good comeback. Hold on," I said, holding my finger up to show him I needed a minute. "Let me think of something."

Nico rolled his eyes.

David pulled on my elbow. "I see what you're trying to do," he told me, almost suspiciously.

"Careful, David. Don't fall down." I patted his shoulder. "That happens a lot."

"Yeah, and the stairs are slippery with monster guts," Karson mumbled as she passed.

"Sorry!" Nathan called back from the front of the long line of people, having nudged himself to the front. "That was my fault. He just kind of snuck up on me."

"If you find a flip-flop up there, it's mine!" I heard Cass called from the darkness. "_Someone_," she said, and I could almost hear the pointed glare in her tone, "decided it would be a good idea to throw it at his head."

"It worked."

"How?" she questioned. "How did that work?"

"It gave him a concussion."

"You hit him in the nose."

"And it stunned him. You are welcome."

Nathan and Cass's voice droned on like an old married couple, which I usually find hilarious. But David still had firm hold of my elbow, despite the shakiness of his steps as he took the stairs one at a time. I was a little worried he would fall and have us all down the stairwell the fast, infinitely painful, snowball-inspired way.

On second thought, that would be amusing.

So I was probably more distracted by the urgent look on his face. "What?"

"Why are you worried?"

"Excuse me?"

"You're worried," he told me seriously. "I can tell."

"From what?" I asked him. "My Hannah Montana medley? I could try the Jonas Brothers if you'd like. Or perhaps Justin Beiber. What would a Justin Beiber medley be? Horrified?"

He stopped me in the middle of my rendition of _Baby_. I know, I know. You are all very depressed. I am too. No worries. I have it on video.

Musical world, you are welcome.

"Why are you worried?" he repeated.

"David, you sound like a broken record," I told him lightly. "I'm not worried. I promise."

"I don't believe you."

"You don't believe my promise?" I huffed. "Should we add a little pinky action?" I held out my pinky, waiting for the incoming pinky promise that I knew wasn't coming.

"I can tell. I'm not an idiot, Ella." He looked at me, and it was hard to look at him in the eye. But I did. Because I'm a demigod and we have to do a lot of hard things.

"No, you aren't an idiot." I smiled at him. "You're David. The boy I've known closely for less then a year. Even Karson has issues telling when I'm anything but happy. Nathan is the only one who always can tell."

"_I_ can tell. I don't have to know you for more then a year to know you _well,_ do I?"

"Yes," I informed him. "You do. I am a complex individual." I grinned at him.

"Don't grin at me." I lowered my grin to a beaming smile. "Slightly better," he said, smiling at me grudgingly. "You're really good at diverting conversation away from sensitive areas." He let go of my elbow, barely certain that I wasn't going to run away.

I have the bizarre urge to go buy a leash.

"I have a lifetime of practice," I told him, not bitter at all, because it's gotten me out of many a troublesome spot. This conversation would not be going onto that long list. "I'm not worried." It was easier to look into his eyes that time.

"You know, I find it easier to look into people's eyes when I'm telling the truth," he said lightly, his hands stuffed in the pockets of his ruined jeans as he walked effortlessly, which is uncharacteristically, down the steep stairs. "Because I'm more comfortable there. For you, I think it would be the opposite way. I think you would find it easier to look people in the eye when you're lying."

"Because that's what I'm used to?" I asked flippantly.

He looked at him out of the corner of his eye, licked his lips like he did when he got nervous or anxious, and took a deep breath. "Because that's what you're used to."

I smiled nostalgically. "You do know me well, don't you?"

He nodded, grinning with white teeth. "Isn't that a scary thought?"

"It must be for you." I smiled widely and kept walking forward.

"Are you going to tell me?" David asked, running a hand through his dark hair.

"Tell you what?"

"You know what."

"No, otherwise I wouldn't ask. I have a terrible memory. Kind of like Dory on _Finding Nemo._ Did you know she was played by Ellen Degeneres?"

"Ella," David started. "You're rambling."

"You say that like it doesn't happen every day."

"Like _what_ doesn't happen every day?" Karson asked, falling behind the rest to join us in our dark descent into the shadows.

I love making things sound ominous.

"Rambling," I explained simply.

"We were discussing why Ella is worried," David said at the same time.

"I am not worried, silly goose," I informed him. Karson looked at me funny. "Really, I'm not."

Karson reached out a hand and, using her super fast, secret ninja reflexes, tweaked my nose really hard. Obviously, Karson is a secret ninja, or else I would have seen that coming and dodged accordingly. Or maybe she's just half divine…

But, come on, I think being a ninja is much more realistic.

"What was that for?" I asked, touching my nose to make sure she hadn't ripped it off with her ninja powers.

"You're nose flares just the tiniest bit when you get frustrated," she informed me.

"Maybe you aren't as complex as you thought you were," David taunted.

"Just because I'm frustrated doesn't mean that I'm lying," I told them both. "It just means that I need a nap. It's past my bedtime."

"No," Karson said. "You're frustrated because you're lie isn't working."

"Why would I lie about being worried?" I asked them both. "I know you guys the best. What would I get out of lying about something that small?"

"It isn't small, you know that," David said.

"You don't want us to know that you're worried because it will worry _us_." Karson tugged on one of my curls.

"You're both delusional." I laughed. "I don't think that much."

"You just said you were complex," David accused.

"And we just clarified that I'm not by Karson's crushing of my nostrils." I pointed a finger at her. "That hurt, by the way."

"You slapped me, twice."

"You were asleep." I rolled my eyes. "Did you really want me to shove sardines down your shirt and in your nose? Because that was #571."

"You don't even have a can of sardines."

"Exactly. I had absolutely no choice."

"Ella!" David grabbed my shoulders. "Stop arguing with Karson and tell me what's the matter."

"I'm _not _worried," I told them slowly.

"Then what are you, Ella?" Karson asked. "You aren't acting like you're usual, substantially annoying self."

"How so?"

"You just aren't making fun of everyone good-naturedly like you usually do," David said, grinning.

"Normal people would consider that an improvement," I admitted, smiling widely. "Of course, Karson is a secret ninja and David can fly, so I doubt we could really be labeled as normal in any case." I sighed just a little. "I'm not worried about anything important, I'm promise. I don't even know if I would call it worried, exactly." I patted my pocket discretely so that they wouldn't see, only anxious on the inside.

Karson and David shared a look, and David looked as though he were going to say something else to me. He never go the chance to though, which is something I should be thankful for. I pride myself on being unbreakable. But the way they were looking at me made me feel uncomfortable.

Oh. My. Goodness. I'm going soft.

SOFT! Like someone moisturized my hardened outer shell! I hope it wasn't that tanning kind. It makes me turn orange. Preferably it was the Bath & Body Works kind. That's my favorite. At least then my softened outer shell would smell nice. That's very important.

Anyway, the reason why I was saved from my interrogation was because Nathan chose that time to be his awesome self and trip down the steps.

The noise that resonated made David trip, which made me, Karson, Lora, and Cass trip. Nico stood, halfway down the steps, watching us with that characteristic smirk on his face as we moaned and groaned in a grumbling, tangled heap at the bottom of the stairwell.

Then, he pulled another total Nico move and slide easily down the stair rail. "Need help?" he asked, sticking out his hand, that smirk playing all over his little face.

I had never been so proud.

David tensed beside me, and I looked over at him. He wasn't slumped over in that typical teenage way like he usually was. He sat up straight like someone had shoved a metal rod up his butt. "Can you feel that?" he whispered in my ear, his breath hot on my skin.

"Can I feel the pain of your elbow in my rib?" I asked. "Why yes, yes I can."

He didn't move, and I doubted he had even heard me. "Can you feel that?"

"Obviously, you don't mean your bone boring into my stomach, because you haven't moved it. And, by the way, I can still feel that." I moved so his elbow dropped to his side listlessly.

"The truth," he whispered. "The truth we've been waiting for." His ice blue eyes were dull, lethargic as he looked at me. Karson shook his shoulder.

"David?" she asked, concerned.

"Daphne," he told me. "She's here. So it someone else. Someone bigger."

"Thea?" Cass hissed. Nathan gripped her arm firmly, and when she looked up at him, alarmed, he smiled lazily and let go. I pretended I hadn't seen.

There were more important things now than Cass's revenge.

Like the truth.

I stood up, got to my feet and only managed to stay there thanks to eleven years of dance experience as the vertigo kicked in. Falling down the steps is not a good thing to do.

I highly recommend against it.

"Daphne," I called, singing her name loudly in my highest voice. Which, in case you didn't know, is quite high. "I'm here."

I stepped into the hallway. It wasn't like the rest of the ones we had passed through. There were no cages here, no monsters or prisoners or things that weren't even identifiable. It was open, like the arena, with seats raised above the ground. Only one man sat up above us, and he was too far away for me to properly see his face. He was bigger Thea though, so Nathan could worry less for just a minute.

"I suppose the obstacles weren't as hard as they were supposed to be, hmm?" Daphne looked at her apathetically. "You made it here quickly."

"Or maybe I'm just extremely talented."

"Well, you killed someone, I have no doubt you wouldn't hesitate against the serial killer and his idiot of a sidekick." She cocked her head to the side.

"Are you going to tell us the truth, now?" I asked lightly.

"'Us?'"

I looked behind me. Nathan, Cass, David, Karson, and Nico were all sitting up by the other guy. Nathan waved at me. Cass and Karson had an identical look of darkness. David was too confused to be too worried and Nico just looked like he was ready to kill the guy behind him. Or maybe he was stoic. No, Nathan. It isn't just you. Stoic expressions look angry to me too.

I didn't even register that Lora was gone. She always disappeared whenever she wanted to.

"Whatever I tell you, I only tell _you_." She blinked. "It's your choice whether to tell the others. Or how much you should tell them."

"I se you like to make things sound ominous, too!" I exclaimed, genuinely excited. "Who knew we had so much in common?"

"No so much," Daphne said. "I don't have three other siblings or a father. Or maybe I do. I'm not quite sure. I've never been in the outside world."'

"That's depressing," I said, trying to keep my smile down.

"Everyone here is here for a reason." Daphne sighed. "Cass is here because she wants her sister. The others are here because of Cass and stayed here because of moral reasons. Why did you come here?"

"We aren't here to listen to _my_ truths," I informed her. "I'm much more interested in yours."

"They can't hear you," Daphne told me.

"I really don't care," I admitted. "I'm not going to tell a random little girl my truths. Especially one on the other side."

"I told you," Daphne said. "I'm not exactly on her side."

"You said it depended on your mood," I corrected.

"That's true," she admitted. "But I haven't been in that kind of mood for a very long time."

"How did you get here?"

Daphne looked at me, like she was building up for something life changing, only she looked as emotionless as always. "I live here."

"That explains so much," I told her in wonder. "Thank you muchly for changing my life forever."

"My parents lived in this house before Thea came to take it over," she elaborated, her eyes just as dull as David's had been only minutes ago. "They kept me here, always, so that monsters wouldn't find and hurt me. Thea came and offered them a deal. A deal which they did not take." Daphne look nostalgic. "My parents were killed and I was handed over to Thea as a tool to help her make more of my kind."

"More of your kind?" I asked.

"Yes," she said, nodding. "Easily manipulated, traumatized children that will follow her blindly because they have no where to go and no one else to turn to."

"That sounds familiar," I said, nodding.

"Thea was originally going to kill Lee and make Cass into something like a chess piece." Daphne smiled. "But when she realized how torn up Cass was that her sister had been taken out from under her nose, she made a new plan."

"A new plan?"

"Yes." Daphne's smile grew bigger. "She didn't realize that she was signing her own death warrant. She does now."

"Why is that?"

"Cass is going to kill her."

Wow. That was totally useless information.

"Yes, somehow I already knew that."

"There's more."

"Good," I told her. "Otherwise I'd be disappointed."

"Thea wants Cass to kill her."

That was more interesting.

"Really?" I asked, hooked.

"Thea realized that Cass would stop at nothing to find and kill her." Daphne looked up at the stands. "We all realized, as we watched her work harder and harder, that it was less about finding her sister and more about finding Thea."

"And?"

"Once Cass finds and kills Thea, Thea thinks that Cass's transformation will be complete."

"Transformation." I thought. "Her transformation into a monster, you mean."

"You saw it too?"

"You don't sound surprised."

Daphne shrugged. "Not really. You seem to be very observant."

"What happens when Cass's transformation is complete?"

"When her transformation is complete, Cass will take over Thea's job and continue her work."

"That's insane!" I exclaimed. No way that could happen.

"Not to Thea. She underwent a similar change years ago. She believes that once you've entered that domain there is no going back."

"But she hates Cass!" I cried. "There is no way in Hades Thea would let her take over her work!"

"Thea doesn't mind," Daphne said sadly. "As long as the work gets done. She wants to establish dominion over the heroes. Dominion over the heroes is a step closer to dominion over the gods." She nibbled her lip. "And everything the gods control."

"So, let me get this straight." I rubbed my temple. "Thea, the psycho, wants Cass to kill her so that Cass will turn psycho too and will control all of the heroes and eventually take over the world."

"Basically, yes."

I clutched the piece of paper in my pocket. "So, if Thea dies, we're in the same mess we started in?"

Daphne looked at me, eyes bright. "Only if Cass is the one to do it."

**Dun dun dun!**

**Sorry this chapter isn't very good. I was running on writers block! Hope you liked it anyway. :)**

**Review!**


	28. The Saddest Picture

**Yeah. I know. It's been a while. Still working on the…um…not feeling awkward at school thing. Also, band is super hard. 6:45 in the morning (for color guard, that it) every morning except for Wednesday's, not to mention Monday's with the team and Thursday's with the entire band. I tripped over a prop. I hit myself in the head with a six-foot-pole. I also was bleeding from my FACE. And I almost took out a flute player while we marched.**

**I think I'm doing pretty well!**

_**Nico di Angelo, son of Hades**_

"Nathan? Nathan, do you copy?"

"Nico."

"What about Nico?"

"_I'm_ Nico."

"Oh. Why do you have Nathan's walkie-talkie?"

I looked at the gray thing in my hands, truly awed at the Grace's…whatever it is. It's a hard thing to name. "Why do you two have walkie-talkies?"

"_Because,_" Ella hissed into the microphone on her walkie-talkie, down on the ground, where she had just had a nice, pleasant chat with Miss Daphne, the Eternally Cryptic Wonder. "Unlike _some_ demigods I know and won't name (Nico), when we Grace's enter the lair of a possible kidnapper, which is filled with monster and deranged demigods, and could be a hostile environment, we like being prepared." She but her hands on her hips and looked up at me. "Why do you have Nathan's communication device?"

"Well, see—"

"You know what?" Ella interrupted. "I don't really care."

"Thanks, Ella. I appreciate that."

"You're welcome." I looked over to David, who was sitting behind me, and mouthed, _how do you put up with this thing?_

He grinned. _As smoothly as possible._

"Now, be quite, for I have some news to tell you so we don't fail to save the entirety of Western Civilization. And tell David to stop talking about me behind my back."

How can someone being so cheerfully annoying from a walkie-talkie? It takes skill, I'll give her that. David grinned at me.

"We have a problem," she said into the speaker. "A big one. Now, I'm going to tell you. Make sure you're sitting down."

"You can see me from where you are, Ella."

"We're having a problem and you're being snarky? I have no need for your snark, Nico di Angelo. No need at all. Watch it or I'll fire you as my sidekick."

David looked hurt. "I thought I was your sidekick."

Ella grinned. "You are a lot different from sidekick, love."

"I'll try to keep my snark and skepticism at minimum," I told her, interrupting their conversation as smoothly as possible like David said.

"Good. Well, while you double check that you're sitting down, make sure that Cass can't hear you. Because we all know how you get that high-pitched girl voice when you're shocked and it would draw her attention."

I tired my hardest to ignore the Ella-insult. "That's what I was trying to tell you before."

"You didn't tell me anything, sidekick."

"I was trying to tell you why Nathan gave me his walkie-talkie."

"What does that have to do with Cass being within earshot of your girly voice?"

"I do not have a girly voice," I said, indignant, into the walkie-talkie, even as David nodded in agreement, but shook my head and continued, because I didn't really have time. "And yes, it applies."

"Then shoot, Mister Storyteller. But hurry. I have a problem that I need to convey to you."

"Cass got tired of waiting and left. Towards Thea. Nathan got up, handed me the walkie-talkie, and went after her," I explained, rubbing my temples. "And now the guy behind us isn't letting us leave."

"And he is really imposing," David informed her. "He just stares. It's creeping me out."

"Well, that is a problem. Not as important a problem as mine, of course. Because mine is, like, catastrophic."

Karson rolled her eyes as Ella's bragging radiated from my communication device.

"And tell Karson to stop rolling her eyes at me. It's rude and quite frankly it's an unattractive habit."

_How does she know that?_ Karson mouthed to me.

"I just do. It's a talent."

I almost rolled my eyes myself. "Ella. Catastrophic problem? Ringing any bells?" I reminded her before the two girls got into it.

"Oh, right!" I saw Ella jump up and down. "Thea _wants_ Cass to kill her."

"What?" David exclaimed. I motioned for him to lower her level and looked behind me at the Death Eater. "Now who has a girly voice?"

"Still you."

Ella continued. "Thea wants Cass to kill her. She thinks that if that happens, Cass will be just as twisted as she is and Cass can take over whatever business type thing is going on here. Like, with her murder she's going to pass down the Psychomaniac Throne."

"That's really creepy," I agreed.

"But Thea _has_ to go," said Karson. "We can't just let her off the hook."

"Nope," Ella said. "That's the second issue."

"So what, are you going to kill her?" I asked skeptically. "Like Lucifer?"

"Oh," Karson said sarcastically beside me. "Like you've never killed anyone."

"In the war with Kronos, sure," I told her, rubbing my temple because I was tired of this conversation happening on repeat whenever something bad happened. "But that was a war. I didn't go in looking to kill a certain person. It was just mass mayhem. And that is _not _something that I would like to repeat."

Now, before Ella started telling this story in the restaurant all that time ago (anyone remember) I was doing a lot of stuff. No, I did not disappear in the three years that occurred between Kronos' war and when I popped out of a bush (which is another long story). I was doing what half of the more powerful demigods were doing—traveling around the world, taking care of the remains of that stupid army, and rescuing new half-bloods from an early death.

You wouldn't think that you'd need a lot of people, or really, anyone at all, to that job. But monsters are like any other type of animal. They live in certain areas, while some live in other. I saw monster I don't think anyone even knew existed. Not to mention around three different kinds of _dracanea._ Anther thing I would not like to repeat. You don't want unqualified heroes dealing with monsters they don't know how to beat. It's amazing how some people completely lack the ability to improvise.

With that comes a lot of explaining. I am now a pro at giving the whole "you are a demigod, welcome to the end of life as you know it and basically death on a platter" speech. Some took it better than others. One guy threw a chair at my head. A pair of sisters attacked me with other various household items, including a toilet brush. Sometimes, I explained in a room with a calm setting. Sometimes, I had to explain while running for my life with a monster poised to take off my head. One of those runs included me running down the street without a shirt on, because it came for me and three others in the middle of my morning routine. That was somewhere in Italy. I got a lot of whistles.

And it's weird. The first thing a lot of people asked me was is I had ever killed anyone. Not, "what's it like being part-god?" or "how do you handle constantly being chased by lethal …things?" Nope. It's like they see the sword and BAM. "Have you ever killed someone?"

That is definitely not the first thing that came to mind when I found out.

Of course, I was being chased by a Manticore and met a bunch of centaurs, so there were a lot of different things for my ADHD brain focus on.

Oh, the simple days.

The answer the question stated above, just in case you totally missed everything else, is yes. Yes, I have killed someone. It's different with monsters, because they don't have souls, so it doesn't count. They just pop back up out of the Evil Goo of All that is Nasty about Everything anyway. With half-bloods, it's worse. Afterwards, I had to go around and apologize to everyone I'd killed in the afterlife just so that I could sleep at night.

Some were happier to see me than others. Although none tried to decapitate me with a chair, so I guess it went pretty well.

"You did what you had to do," Ella said into her walkie-talkie. "If you didn't, they'd just die anyway."

I sighed. "What kind of twisted sense does that make?"

"The perfect kind."

"Thea's got to go," Karson said.

"When we met Nyx, you were the only one adverse to this," I reminded her.

"And you were all like, 'it's our duty,' and blah, blah, blah." Karson rolled her eyes again. Ella's right. That's a bad habit. "You aren't backing out, are you?"

"No, of course not. I agree that something needs to be done." I looked at the door Nathan and Cass had disappeared into. "But killing her seems extreme."

I saw a flash of white from below as Ella grinned into the walkie-talkie. "You can apologize to her later when she's in ghost form."

"Way to be sensitive."

"You're a big boy, Nico," she said in that annoying way. "You can handle to truth. If we let Thea go, we'll just be paving a path for more people like Cass and the rest of the poor souls here. I don't want that on my conscious either. I'd much rather feel guilty for killing a dictator."

"Don't kid around, Ella," I said, rolling my eyes (Karson's rubbing off). "We all know you wouldn't feel guilty."

David smiled. "You won't lose one bit of sleep."

"I'm an insomniac," Ella said. "I hardly sleep at all."

"You aren't allowed to leave."

I looked at the hand the Death Eater held in front of my face, blocking my only exit. "You let Cass and Nathan go," David reminded him.

His menacing look would have bothered me if I didn't have the god of the dead for a father.

"As were my orders."

"Screw orders, I want through," I snapped.

"I can't allow you to do that, sir."

"So you're a 'sir' now?" Ella asked, running up the steps to meet up as she fiddled with her ponytail.

"Ella," Karson said. "Mess with his head for me please."

"With pleasure." She cocked her head at the guy, who just scoffed like he would eat his own shoe before he let Ella mess with him.

I heard wearing one shoe is uncomfortable. He was about to test that hypothesis.

Ella reached her hand out and planted it on the guy's forehead and closed her eyes, rubbing her temple in concentration with her opposite hand. He did the sane thing and looked at her like she was _not_.

"You're the youngest of…four?" she asked, keeping her eyes closed. "No, three."

He tensed up like she was feral. Which she might have been. It's hard to tell with those Grace kids.

"Your father is mortal. You're mom is a minor goddess, whom you've never met. You were forced to join up, but quickly warmed up to the things that were happening here. Thea values you for you hand-to-hand skills, but you are lacking in sword technique."

He took a step back so her hand couldn't touch him.

"Sorry," Ella said sheepishly, rubbing her head like she was shamed when we knew she wasn't. "I always get a little carried away. After the first time you see it, it isn't nearly as awkward, don't worry."

"Who are you?" he asked warily.

"Your worst nightmare?" she said, asking him uncertainly. "It's hard to tell yet. I think I need to scare you just a little bit more before we get into that phase of our relationship."

"Do you have any idea how handy she is to have around?" Karson whispered in my ear, poking my side. "She did it at the mall and we got, like, tons of stuff for free."

Ella was still freaking out the guard. "You know, if you feel that insecure about your technique I'd be happy to help you after we break down this entire house brick by brick. That takes priority, of course, but we should be done soon, if everyone is in your sorry condition."

He narrowed his eyes, but I could tell he was sweating. Ella raked her eyes over him and pointed to me. I almost took a step back, because it was Ella and she could have attacked me for no reason at any second because it would freak the guy out even more.

She had a different idea.

"You see that guy over there?" she said, wagging her finger at. "Do you?" she asked again when he didn't respond, not continuing until he nodded. "Guess who his daddy is."

Silence.

"Go on, guess. You can do it."

"Who?" he said finally, almost snarling.

"Hades!" Ella exclaimed, excited, like she was telling someone they had just won a years supply of every candy on the planet. "He's the god of the dead, in case you're as bad at that sort of thing as you are with any type of weapon at all. And you know what he's going to do if you don't let us pass?"

He looked at her like he was curious but didn't want to give her the satisfaction of asking. Like something so trivial would ever stop Ella Grace.

"He's going to bring back your sister from beyond the grave and explain out whole situation to her," she continued, hardly skipping a beat, clapping her hands like she was excited. "What would she think of that? Think of the fact that you were turning against the very gods themselves? Would she like that? Would she look at you the same?" Pause, most likely for dramatic effect. "I don't think she would."

His eyes flickered from Ella's to mine.

"Now, will you move aside, or am I going to have to make you feel like an even bigger piece of crap than I already have?" Ella smiled at him innocently to finish it off, but he had already taken a step aside. "Why thank you, kind sir." She skipped off passed the rows of chairs towards the black of the doorway like she was prancing through a meadow, and Karson just shrugged and followed, dragging David behind her.

I patted the poor by on the shoulder as I passed. "Sorry, man. Better men have fallen before that freak of nature."

"Nico, shut it or I'll go ninja on your sad excuse for a behind."

I shrugged, grinning, and followed Ella out after Karson. "Once again, my humblest apologies. Try not to cry out in the open. I find a nice dark corner is the best thing."

"Nico!"

"Shut up, Karson, I'm coming."

"You guys are like an old married couple," Ella informed us as I caught up to the two of them. "Don't you start moving like one. We've got to be speedy. Speedy Gonzalez'."

"Ella."

"Alright, fine. I'll shut it. But we have simply got to hur—"

Ella hit the ground with an _oomph_. "Avalee?"

"I told you we were supposed to go in the other direction!" Alan said. Avalee sat up on the floor, her golden hair practically glowing in the darkness, almost as much as Ella's skin.

"Are you alright?" Karson asked, picking Ella up under the arms. Avalee hopped up onto my back with no warning, so it was just like old times. Sophie and Yuki followed, running and panting, chasing after the twins just moments before.

"Oh, nice to see you four again," he said, waving. Sophie panted, her sequins sparkling like a disco ball in the gloom.

"Those two run fast," she said between breaths. "Where are the rest of you?"

Ella cocked her head to side. "Lora disappeared, Cass and Nathan ran down this hallway to an unknown destination, Avalee is on Nico, Alan is tugging on my pant leg for some reason, which I am going to ask him about promptly. Why are you pulling on my leg?"

Alan looked up at her. "Do you have my picture?"

"You're what?" David asked.

"My picture," he said urgently. "I drew it in the hospital wing before Ella and Nathan got taken away by Thea and you guys started a major battle upstairs but _after_ we all went to see Nyx."

"Right, totally followed that," I told him. He grinned at me.

"I have it in my pocket," Ella said. "Nathan gave it to me before we came down into this forsaken maze of entrapment and turmoil." She reached into the pocket of her jeans and pulled out a folded up bit of paper. "Why?"

"I think you should look at it," Avalee said softly, her breath hot on my ear.

Karson and Ella shared a looked as Alan looked at him feet. I walked over to them to see it better as Ella carefully unfolded the crinkled piece of paper, and David looked like he wasn't sure whether he wanted to see it or not. Once it was completely opened, Ella closed her eyes and wrinkled her forehead like she was in pain. "Oh no."

Karson caught her breath in her chest. Sophie said frantically, "What? _What?_" over and over again. Yuki looked really confused. I was shocked, but not as much as I could have been. Something like this would have to happen eventually.

"We have to hurry," I said forcefully. Ella nodded numbly. I started running off. Karson grabbed her left arm and David grabbed her right and they both pulled her down the hallway, forcing her stumbling feet to run so she wouldn't trip over her legs. Avalee rode on my back, Alan gripping Karson's free hand, and Sophie and Yuki tailing behind, still totally confused.

"We're not going to make it," Ella muttered morbidly. I stepped on her foot on purpose.

"You're pessimism is really throwing off my groove, right now," I informed her hotly. "Pull it together, woman, before you make me leave you behind."

"You wouldn't dare!" she flashed in a more Ella-like manner.

"Leave being a pessimist to Karson," David said, and Karson huffed on Ella's other side.

"Okay, I'm just born that way. That particular personality flaw is not my fault."

"This isn't the time," Sophie said behind us. "Is what I would say if I had any idea what was going on whatsoever."

A door came up as we reached the end of the tunnel-like hallway. Yukie and I pulled it open as quickly as we could, but that door was so dang _heavy._ I've always felt bad about that. Like if I had been a bit strong we would have gotten there in time to prevent what was happening on the other side when we opened it, that perfect reenactment of the scene draw flawlessly on that crinkled piece of paper.

Thea, standing with Lee as her feet, facing down Cass as the daughter of Poseidon screamed bloody murder. Because Tobias, Lora's brother, had finally come back, and he was skewering Nathan through the side right next to her.

**Sorry it took so long. I made it twice as dramatic just for you. Please review. I was debating which of the two would be the bad guy. I think this works. And I feel your pain, by the way. I cried when I wrote it. Because, in case you didn't know, Nathan is my soul mate. So review if you don't want Nathan to die, because I don't!**

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	29. All of Us Heroes

**I don't feel good at all. I am writing this as I sit at the computer after coming home from achool after band. I am a hypochondriac, as so things aren't very good. I know at least three possible diseases that I could have. My dad just told me to stop being a drama queen eat chicken noodle soup like normal kids.**

**And as for Nathan… **

**I couldn't do it. Who could? Nathan shall live! Which is what I was planning to happen unless everyone was really happy that he was dead. In which case I would just be really upset.**

_**Ella Grace, daughter of Nyx**_

"Nathan? _Nathan!" _I ripped out of David's and Karson's hold, trying to propel myself forward as quickly as possible to get to him, but David push me back b my shoulders. "Let me go!"

"Ella, come back!" He cupped my face in his hands. "Calm down and come back."

I didn't care about coming back or getting lost in a wild frenzy or whatever was happening to me. I just wanted to scream. Time had stopped. Nothing existed except for that one room. There was no fighting going on above me. I wasn't tired, hungry, or beaten. I was just desperate. Overwhelmingly, undeniably, irrefutably desperate to got to my brother. So I did the obvious thing.

I bit my boyfriend.

He yelped and let go, staring at the tooth marks in his arm, slightly bleeding, in awe. I ran. "Nathan!"

He was on the ground now. Lying there. Bleeding. Wounded. Moaning. Breathing. Most certainly not dead. Yet.

Cass was already at his side, putting pressure on the disgusting gash as best as she could, blood on her hands. "Move over!" I shouted at her, unhinged, and took her place, pressing, pressing, pressing.

"Ella—" she tried.

"No," I told her stonily. "No. Don't try. You care more about killing the Crazy then you do about my brother. More than you care about your sister, even."

"Don't say that," Cass said softly.

"It's true," I shouted at her, completely uncharacteristically. "It's all about you killing her, that demon. This is about you getting even! _This_—" I motioned to my brother. "This is what happens when it's about you getting even. That's all this is. Pain, and suffering, and mayhem, and loss. Go ahead. Kill her. Turn yourself into a monster. I don't care. _Go!_"

She stood there, stunned. Then it dawned on her. "It's my fault."

"Yes," I told her, my voice watery. "Did you really think that the only way to get your sister back was to fight?"

"Yes."

"No." I shook my head. "We heroes, all we think is fighting, fighting, fighting. Who will I slay next? Bring on the monsters!" I started tearing Nathan's shirt into strips for bandages, mostly because it was something to take my anger out on. "Why can't the fighting stop? Why can't we be better than the rest of those idiots and freakin' _stop_? Is that so hard? Are we so much like our parents?" I sniffed, wiped my eyes, and tied the makeshift bandages into place. Nathan was either asleep or unconscious, his forehead beading with sweat on his green tinged face.

I looked over at Cass, and I could tell she was sorry. Guilt was playing clearly on every plane of her face. But the only reason I still had a reason to be furious with her is because guilt wasn't the only thing exposed there. There was an ugliness, like the guilt I saw so clearly was fighting off the need for revenge that we all saw coming. I hoped, for myself and Nathan and even for Cass, that the guilt won.

I stood up, on the brink of breaking again, and turned to Tobias, where he had been standing, calmly, expressionless. "And now," I continued, still talking to Cass but not taking my eyes off of the depthless ones before me, "this whole thing has gone too far. No one can stop. The anger in us all won't let us."

I couldn't see any more. Tears, not yet fallen, clouded my vision, and all I could see was the dark color of Toby's skin and the endless pits that were his eyes. I picked up my brothers sword. "Why?" I asked, my voice the only thing emotionless. "Why? _Why?_" I swung blindly at his head, tears falling simply because they had spilt over as I moved. "Was it _fun?_ Did you like making us think you were an ally? Did you _like_ stabbing him through? Did you like it, you sadist?"

I swung again, aware that I was completely and totally out of control and trying my hardest to reel myself back in. But I couldn't. Not with a monster standing in front of me. A real one.

"You betrayed Lora, your own sister!" I screamed at him. "You betrayed Cass, and the gods, and you betrayed me. And you are not going to live to regret it, I swear to you." I swung again. He blocked, but only just barely. "Or I could let you live," I thought aloud, pushing him, attacking ferociously. "I could let you live out every day of your sick, pathetic life, and you could regret it until Hades comes to collect your miserable piece of a soul." I cut his arm with the tip of my sword. "If you have one."

"You say that because it was personal." Tobias' voice was deep, and I realized I had never heard it before now. "You've killed people too."

"I'll give you that. I'm a murderer. I can't sleep at night. Why do you think I'm an insomniac? But I did those terrible things for a good reason. For a _reason_," I insisted, still attacking. "What reason did you have to try to kill him? Was there one? Or are you so far gone that killing is almost as enjoyable as Ping-Pong?"

"Nothing is as enjoyable as Ping-Pong."

"A sense of humor?" I asked bitterly. "Fat lot of good that will do you where you're going."

"Do you think my sister would stand to let you kill me?" he laughed. "She thinks I'm her pet. She'll jump in and save me for the same reason that you're so upset that you're brother in lying at my feet, like all of you were destined to." He paused.

"Dream on," Lora said, drawing her dagger out of her brother's chest. "I'm not related to traitors. You are no brother of mine. Go to Hades, with the rest of your kind."

Toby fell to the floor, a mixture of shock and smugness still placed quite firmly on his dark face. Lora kicked his body out of the way. "What happened to respect for the dead?" I asked, shaking off my black thoughts as best as I could.

"Out the window," she piped. "For now."

"Where have you been?" I asked. "Cass is crazy, Thea is crazy, I'm _going_ crazy, and Nico, Karson, David, Yuki, and Sophie are just totally out of the loop and are remaining sane." I looked at where Nathan was on the ground. Karson was trying frantically to heal him, but she was too tired. Her face was turning green as well, and dull look of exhaustion was obvious under the new the color. "Lora…"

"I know," she said. "I knew this would happen. So I brought reinforcements in that department."

Pez picked her way daintily down the stairs, Lyla holding onto her arm and telling her when to step. Pez looked up, and her sightless eyes looked into mine. She frowned. Once she had defeated the villainous steps, the twins rushed over to us.

"I forgot you were here," I said intelligently.

"You probably forgot that anyone was here other than the ones in this room," Lyla said sadly. "Come on, Pez, we have a brother to heal."

The two little girls rushed over to Karson, and Alan and Avalee had joined them. Avalee bit her lower lip, and Alan looked guilt-ridden, like because he had drawn the picture it was all his fault.

I wanted to run over to him, to hug them both and tell them that it was alright that and that Nathan would be fine and we would go home and eat tacos for dinner because that's what we always had on Thursday's. I wanted to be the big sister that I truly was, but Lora grabbed my arm.

She looked at me, brown against black. "We can't let Cass kill Thea."

"Why not?" I asked, the last traces of bitterness creeping into my voice and blowing away. "It's what they both want, isn't it?"

"Do you really want Cass to turn up like this?"

"It's her own choice."

"Is that what you really think?"

"No." I smiled. "It's what I want to be true. I want to go home. But I guess I can just screw it until a later time."

Lora grinned at me, which made me smile more, and soon we were both grinning like maniacs, the only traces of my snap the red on my nose and the tear tracks through the dirt on my cheeks.

"So what are we going to do?" I asked, voicing the very real question that had been irking me for a while. "I already talked it over with Karson and Nico and David. We agree that she needs to be dealt with, although some were more reluctant to reach that conclusion." I looked at Nico, where he was giving Karson water.

Avalee was standing, her blonde hair blowing in a breeze that wasn't there, looking up with a stoic expression on her face. "She hasn't moved," she said clearly.

By _she_, she meant Thea. The Queen of Creepers herself sat where she had at the beginning, not moving, not fidgeting. Not sad because of Toby's death or happy because Cass was here to finish the job she had so pain-stakingly drawn out. Not even surprised that we had made it here. She gazed down at Avalee, just as stoic.

Soon, everyone was looking at her. Cass, and all of the others who had conjugated over by Nathan's little bed on the floor. Pez was the only one who didn't, and she was blind, so it didn't really matter where she was looking in the end. Her pale hands moved quickly, untying my bandages and cleaning the wound, disinfecting, spreading some sort of magic balm on the bloody gash on his side, before replacing them with real ones that she hadn't made out of a ripped and dirty shirt. She washed his face off with a wet cloth and sat back, panting at the effort it had taken.

I was really wondering where she had gotten all of her supplies.

I guess we'll never know.

"How long until he wakes up?" I asked her.

"Um, Thea is up there. I think she wants your attention."

"Right now, I really don't care about what she wants," I said sweetly. "I care about my brother, who was an inch from death last time I checked. I want to know when he will wake up and what kind of state he will be in."

Pez bit her lip. "It will hurt. He'll be in pain of a very long time. He'll have a massive and somewhat impressive scar to show for his trouble. As for when he will wake up…"

"Well?" I asked, impatient. "If he is going to die then tell me now, so I can spare myself the worry."

"You certainly bounced back fast," Karson noted, not seriously. I was still just on the line between calm and hysterical. It's a very fine line in the Grace family. There are only extremes. That's what it's like in awesome families.

"He _will_ wake up," said Pez firmly. "I'm not sure when. It could be hours, it could be days. I really hope it isn't days."

I nodded seriously. "I'm not doing his cabin chores because he doesn't want to get out of bed."

"You're back to joking quickly."

We turned around, a bunch of heads snapping from direction the next and the pop of spines, a few groans. And then we were all rubbing our necks. I think it's time we all visited the chiropractor.

Someone with hair so blonde it was white stood behind us, making his way over to Thea, the sweep of his black robe churning dust and making my eyes water even more than they had been.

"Oh!" said Thea. "Reginald."

He bowed, and I almost gagged. David was having issues changing his laugh into a cough, so I thumped him on the back for good measure. "Mistress," Ole Reggie said, eying the two of us imperiously.

Imperiously. What a great word.

"Did you find Daphne?" Thea ordered.

"She disappeared," Reggie said softly. "She convinced another of our lesser Chair members to hold off the rest of them by telling him that they were your orders. He confessed and said something about one of them being a psychic."

I grinned happily. Good job, me. You emotionally scarred someone twice your size in less than ten minutes. Huzzah!

Huzzah. Another great word. I'm just full of them, aren't I?

"You, there," Thea said, pointing at me. "What did she tell you?"

I laughed at her cheerfully. "You just had one of your men stab my brother through, after you keep me from the twins, after you imprisoned us, after you caused all sorts of misery and strife, and you want me to be cooperative? You just don't know how the real world works, do you?"

"I'm older than you."

"And crazy," I added, "That's a big personality flaw. I'd get that checked out if I were you."

"First," Karson said in my ear, "you taunt serial killers. Now you taunt a psychomaniac."

"I probably need to get that checked out, too." I smiled. "But personally, I think that having an issue with making fun of people isn't on the same level as kidnapping children and harvesting your own army of ninja giants."

"Since when are they ninja?"

"Since, like, two seconds ago. Really, Karson? Get in the loop."

"I wish that your brain gave out memos," she told me seriously.

"Yeah. Me too. It's really annoying when it does things without telling me."

"Ella!" Thea shouted.

I said something really threatening like, "Hmmmmm?"

"What did Daphne tell you?"

My eyes flickered from her to Cass, and both of them noticed. Cass looked at me, asking the same question, and I knew that Cass would never get over this if she didn't have the chance to prove to herself that she was a monster, seething for revenge after all.

I shrugged.

"Reginald?" Thea asked, irritated. "Find her."

"She left." I turned to Lora, who looked up at Thea, grinning. "She's long gone. As soon as she finished the meeting with Ella she left. I don't know where she was going. She said something about a beach."

Thea looked at us, really seeing us, maybe for the first time. "I really hate demigods."

"Self-hate is a terrible thing," I said seriously. Karson elbowed me in the ribs. "Ow. It's true," I defended.

"I'm surprised you made it past sixth grade."

Nico nodded. "It's a good thing you don't live somewhere else. You'd probably make fun of the Mafia."

"They make good movies," I said thoughtfully. "Besides, she's a bit more dangerous, don't you think?" We looked up at her again, and I swear her eyes were glinting red.

Okay. No they weren't. But the depiction just makes the writing come to life, no? Thank you Mrs. Little, for teaching me great words _and_ awesome writing skills.

"It's come," she said. And by _she_, I mean Thea. Not my seventh grade English teacher.

"What's come?" David asked, his voice small, but clear.

"The time."

"Thanks for being descriptive!" I shouted up at her. "It really helps."

I could see Thea roll her eyes.

For real this time.

"Come," she said, pointing to Cass. "Come and fight me one last time, you miserable little girl."

"I used to look up to you," Cass said unexpectedly, softly, like she regretted either what she had done or what she was going to do. If I were her, I would just regret the whole situation. "I thought of you as a sister."

"I never thought of you as anything more than a worm under my shoe," Thea said arrogantly, grinning. "You were a nuisance. It was so much fun to see the look on your face when you realized that your idol hated you."

"Well, this is just a whole party of sadists, isn't it?" I said, but neither Cass nor Thea heard me. Karson started scolding me for being an instigator and blah, blah, blah…

I only remember important things. That speech isn't one of them. My witty banter is, of course, included.

"I helped you," Cass told her firmly, and I saw the water from the bottle in her pocket slither down to bubble around her open right hand. "I gave you any kind of help I could give you. I saved your life sometimes, do you remember?" There was no guilt in her face now. Sadness. Nostalgia. Little else. "And yet, you put me through hell because you think it's fun?" She laughed. "I hate people like you. They can't just make themselves miserable. They have to share their misery with everyone they see."

"Like Scrooge in _A Christmas Carol!"_ I added, and I dodged behind Karson could further harm me. "It was a good analogy, alright?"

Thea sneered on her throne. "Is that so?"

"Unmistakably."

"Then why did you follow me so far and so long?" she asked. "Your friend Ella is right. You could have gotten Lee by other means."

"I was always a straightforward person," Cass commented.

Thea grinned. "Then come on, little Cassie. I'm right in front of you." She held her arms open, welcoming Cass and her sword. "Do what you've always wanted to do. But don't think I'll give it to you without any work on your part. I'm much too important for that."

**!**

**I updated in an acceptable amount of time. Nothing at all like Callie. For her loyal fans, her next chapter might come out sometime in December because she is SO SLOW. :) That is all.**

**Actually, no it's not. Review!**


	30. Simply Complex

**HELLOOOOOOOO!**

****** Sorry I haven't been updating for a while. See, I consider it my duty to nag my friend until she updates. She didn't. So, guess what. I KEPT NAGGING. Like the good friend that I am. :)**

********** On the other hand, our color guard got best auxiliary! Which is basically saying that we were pretty boss. And we were! The band, however, didn't share my enthusiasm, seeing as they got fourth out of five. In all fairness, however, due to the ridiculous (and freezing cold) wind, the props that we use (huge, ten-foot tall back drops that the band hides behind throughout the show) couldn't be used. So we didn't have a major part of our show AND we couldn't do the tag. Don't ask me what a tag is. I STILL don't know.**

************** And auxiliary is a pretty cool word.**

Thea looked into the face of her rival, her eternal archenemy, glowering into the face that haunted her. Cass looked back, and the war going on in her brain was clearly depicted, plain as day, on her face. Back and forth, guilt, hate, pain, sadness, hate. One minute, one would be shining out of her eyes, and the next it was replaced by something twice as passionate.

She tried her best not to spit on Cass. Honestly. Thinking, even half-heartedly, that she would ever stop. Trying to talk sense into someone whose heart was so far gone that it could hear nothing, feel nothing. Cass was delusional. Idealism didn't suit her. Of all the useful things that Thea had indirectly taught her, realism had been one of those things. An idealist couldn't take down the gods. An idealist couldn't do anything but swim in their own little sea of fantasies and dreams, dreams that meant nothing and would never mean anything else. Idealists were nothing.

Thea tapped her fingers on her chin, thinking. "You are coming at me, right? Or will you just stand there for a while, gawking at me. I'm real. I'm here."

Cass hesitated, looking over her shoulder at where the Grace boy lay in a heap, the red blossom of blood already growing on the white bandages so carefully tied around his wound. She couldn't help it anymore. Thea wrinkled her nose in disgust. "I didn't teach you to hesitate."

"I'd tell you that you didn't teach me anything," Cass retorted, blue-green eyes shooting fire, with a flip of her black hair. "But I'd be lying. You taught me how to die without really dying."

"Is that all?"

"Well, you kind of taught me how to be an idiot. Good job with that, by the way." Cass rolled her shoulders, loosening up her tense muscles quickly. The water burbling in her right hand churned, the only sign of her growing anger.

Thea narrowed her eyes. "I hope you're ready."

"You say it like I'm a cake in the oven." She sighed, twirling a strange of hair around her finger.

"You are little more."

"Noted." Cass grinned, a smile so like the one that Grace boy had flashed her when he said something particularly wicked that Thea was shocked. "You coming?"

**_Lora, daughter of Cybele_**

I'm on my period. Right now, I am seriously pmsing.

Why am I sharing this with the internet and all of it's readers? Because the Tobias Incident, as I have dubbed it, really pissed me off. Pardon my French.

I stood, my blood stained hands jammed into the pockets of the gray hoodie I had borrowed from another demigod. I would dry-clean it later. I looked at Thea, then at Cass, then at Thea again. I think Cass has a split personality.

Here's my reasoning. One minute, Ella is shouting at her for being a turd in all of it's forms, and now she isn't channeling that classic Grace instigation to perfection. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm proud of the girl. My baby is leaving the nest, harvesting the talent of being unnerving. It's a little weird, though. Like looking in a mirror. Only what I see in the mirror is much more awesome. Because it's me. And I'm the . Seriously.

"Cass," I whispered. "Be careful."

She didn't hear me. I was glad.

Ella looked at me, then at the body of the traitor Tobias at my feet. She walked over to me with a roll of bandage. "For your hands," she said, tossing it too me.

"I didn't hurt myself," I told he, smiling, holding up my hands for her to see. "The blood isn't mine."

"I know," Ella said, all smiles. "But looking at the blood of your brother on your own two hands can be a little disconcerting, no?"

If ever there was a difference between the oldest Grace girl and myself, it was staring me in the face. If her brother betrayed her, she would never be able to stop thinking of him as a brother. Nathan himself didn't have that problem, threatening to take out Cass if she did anything that would hurt him or his family. If Ella had turned her back on him, he would have treated her the same way.

For someone so guarded, Ella was a sap at heart. I smiled. Maybe being able to hold on to the happiness you had once was a good thing. But all I wanted to do was preserve those good feelings that I had when I thought of someone that I loved. Tobias had ruined that. I would never be able to think of him as a brother, as someone that I had loved and wanted to be with. He would forever be a traitor, another ugly black stain on my memory.

Ella looked at the bandages in her hand. "You think I'm foolish."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "What?"

"For caring. He's a traitor, after all," she said with a sigh, ruffling her dark, feathery hair with her free hand and grinning. "You think that I stupid for being sentimental."

"I don't."

"You do," Ella said again. "You're right. I'm foolish. But I'd rather be foolish than her." She jerked her head at Thea and looked over at Nathan. "You're right. If he harmed me, I would not be able to stop him. It's a problem. My inability to forget." She winked at me. "Consider it my fatal flaw."

"It doesn't seem all that fatal."

"It's just one of many," she admitted. "As a person, I'm filled with tons of flaws that could potentially kill me. It's the same with all of us. Being only half-human doesn't change the fact that we make mistakes. Many different kinds of mistakes. Any one of them could kill us. I know that. You know that, too, I think."

Ella looked at Karson. "Some people don't. Some people don't have to. They are good people without the problem of being complex. Being simple is a gift I don't have. Maybe if Cass and Thea were simple people we wouldn't be in the mess."

She shoved the bandages into the pocket of her jeans and closed Tobias's jacket around him stomach so the dagger hole wasn't as visible. Then she spat on his face. "But a traitor is a traitor. That of all things is simple."

"You sound like you've been watching too many Jane Austin movies." I grinned, tugging on one of my braids. Ella grinned back at me.

Then she leaned in a whispered in my ear. "I'm glad you killed him." Turning on her heels, she marched away, back to where Nathan lay on the ground next to Pez.

Karson looked over at me, disgust on her face. "Talk about complex." Then she rolled her eyes and looked back at Cass.

That reminded me why I was here in the first place: to stop things from getting out of hand. My eternal duty. Sigh. It's too much work when you're charge is Cassandra Hart. I need a pay rise.

Or pay at all.

The things between Cass and Thea had gotten exponentially worse as Ella had distracted me. As I expected, they hadn't paused their fight while I'd had my conversation, which was rude. They should have been more considerate. The clash had already started, and I'd missed the beginning. I hoped it would be like Lost, where if you missed anything nothing else would make sense, and it would continue to haunt you until you lay on your deathbed.

Really.

Does anyone know how the heck Lost ended?

The shrapnel from an exploding chair coming for my head woke me out of my reverie. I dodged like the ninja I am, but I didn't appreciate it. Shrapnel is just not a good gift.

"Watch it, Cass, do you want to kill us all?" Karson cried over from where she was sitting, next to Nathan and Nico. Pez still tried her best to wake him, knowing it was useless but doing it anyway. That's what I call sibling love.

Cass winced from where she was, hearing Karson. Her face got red. Thea threw her against the wall.

Thea was not a daughter of Poseidon, or a major god, or really anyone helpful at all (no offense). Letters and messages are useful in other settings, but in a fight to the death? Not so much. Unless you wanted to give your opponent a paper cut. That would totally scare me off.

Thea, however, while not having the ability to call forth the dead, manipulate water, or bring lightning down to smite her opponent, was still a demon with a weapon. You kind of had to be, in her situation. The ridiculously long glittering sword she held in her hand was the only thing, other than her obvious insanity, that could keep the monstrous troops upstairs in line. She wielded it like an expert.

And while Cass _did_ have a unique ability thanks to her godly parent, she had never been good with a sword. She was good at knife throwing, and decent at archery, and she could climb a mountain in next to no time at all, but swords were not her strong point.

All we could do was hope that the years of Cleaning she had done before had taught her how to defend herself against one.

There had been more than one point when I wondered if it would be better just to let Cass die and have someone not as emotionally invested in the psychopath's downfall take care of the job. My morality, and my friendship with her, didn't let the thought bud into anything more than a passing one, thank the gods. But I could see in the eyes of my superiors the same thoughts growing. I had been able to buy her some time to prove to them that she would be okay. After that, there wasn't any bad incidents that made them think it was too dangerous to allow her to live, and eventually they just forgot about the whole thing, like gods tend to do.

But the look on Cass's face now, I don't know what those people would think. Cass was wrestling with her feelings. She didn't know if she should go for the kill or let Thea live, and Thea was using her indecisiveness against her. Her blue-green eyes kept flickering to Nathan, and Ella's still-red eyes, while they should have been on the murdering in front of her.

At least now, if Cass got destroyed, it would be her own fault for not paying attention.

Somehow, the thought wasn't really reassuring.

But I didn't need to be reassured. I needed Cass to think straight.

Lee, however, seemed to have that well in hand.

I was greatly impressed when she came behind Thea and hit her over the head with a piece of wood. I hadn't even noticed her doing this. I was really getting rusty if a little ten year old could sneak up on her without drawing my attention.

Thea had saw the movement only moments before she had been hit and dodged accordingly, not able to completely avoid it, but it did less damage than it could have.

"Don't get in my way!" Thea screamed, pushing Lee away. Lee limbed backwards, the chains on her feet, huge and the red-copper color of rust, making dark red scars around her ankles and tripping her so she fell. Thea paid her no more attention.

Unfortunately for her, Cass had picked up the log of wood and planted a solid blow to Thea's blonde little head. "Lay. Off. My. Sister."

"Being protective, now?" Thea spat. "Stop deluding yourself. You aren't here for her. You're here for revenge. Every one here knows it."

Ella stood up, reaching out for Avalee and Alan as they ran toward their one-time friend. For some reason, she stopped herself. "I don't want you to be a monster, Cass," she murmured so quietly she couldn't be heard. "I need you to do what will make you happy. Does killing make you happy?"

David took Ella's hand. He whispered something in her ear. She smiled at him. "All that's left for her to do is to decide which is more important."

"I don't see why the question is such a hard one," Karson said, her hands flowing what little energy she hand in the hole in Nathan's stomach, almost unconsciously.

"Don't make me hate you, Cass," Nico said, looking green. "But most importantly, _don't lose_!"

His voice resounded around the room.

Resounded. Fun word.

Out of all of the people in the room, Nico was the one most like Miss Hart. Nathan understood her almost freakishly well for someone so different. But Nico had been the closest to where Cass was. Those children of Hades can hold a grudge like nobody's business. He had fallen dangerously far, close to the bottom. Cass was there. At a crossroads.

"You better make the right choice, you idiot!" he screamed at her. "Nathan didn't get himself skewered for nothing! We didn't come this far to watch you throw us away."

"I can't have a conversation with you and fight a maniac, Nico!" she said, huffing, blowing her hair out of her face. It was bright red. As she fought, her curls got wilder and wilder.

Nico lay back down on the ground. "Whatever. I'm just an angsty teenager who's been there. You better come back, Cass. You don't want me to beat you, right?"

Cass scoffed. "Not on your life, you little brat!"

Despite what Cass said, she could indeed have a conversation and fight at the same time. The distraction helped her. She wasn't fighting with herself anymore. She didn't have as many openings. Thea and Cass were back on the same page.

Which is why it was surprising, almost, when Thea screamed bloody murder, clutching her stomach. Cass looked shocked. Just under her right armpit to her left hip, blood smeared over the arm she had grabbed her abdomen with from the bloody gash Cass had managed to make.

Lee paled, poor thing. Cass looked blank with shock. "Sor—"

"Kill me!" Thea demanded. "_Kill me!"_

"Excuse me?" Cass took a step away, but Thea grabbed her arm with bloody fingers, keeping the younger girl locked in place.

"I don't want to live," Thea hissed. "I want to die! Do what you want to do! Do what you came here for. Kill me, you wretch! _Kill me!"_

Cass stared at her, twice as shocked now as she was a minute ago. To all of our surprise, she took a step back in horror. Thea refused to let go.

"What are you doing?" she ordered. "What good _are_ you? Kill me! Have some backbone, you sniveling excuse for a hero. Isn't that what you pride yourself on? _Do it!"_

"I'm not sure I want to," Cass said, surprising herself. "I want to go home."

Thea screamed, getting to her feet, clutching her open stomach. "You can't go home! You have to kill me! Do as I tell you! I'm in charge here. Do as you're told." Thea, in a sudden burst of speed I would never have thought possible for a wounded idiot, plunged the length of her sword through Cass's shoulder, the red celestial bronze coming out the other side. She leaned in, whispering cruelly into Cass's ear as she removed her sword. "You're going to kill me! You can't leave until you do."

******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************Dun dun dun. Ominous music. So on and so forth. **

**********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************You know, considering that I've never had a set plot for this story, I think it's come along quite well, don't you think?**


	31. And End at the Hands of Angels

**Hey, guys!**

****** I say something in French, but it's Monday, so my mind is refusing to work.**

********** Annnnnnnyyyyyyyyyyway. **

************** Our band is bad. :) We got sixth out twelve. One point away from finals. Actually, like, .7 away from finals. It's all the drill guys fault.**

****************** But COLORGUARD GOT THIRD! Can I get a digital woot woot? And we always crush the two who beat us in winterguard. Basically, we're the , guys.**

********************** Unlike you! Because I only got, like, two reviews. Shame. Luckily for you, I believe in second chances, so do better this time.**

************************** And, just to warn you, only one or two chapters left, at the most. With this chapter, MOST of your questions will be answered. And at least my hatred for Thea will be quelled. **

Thea didn't have to pull the sword out of Cass. Gravity did that for her. Stiff and shocked and falling backwards, Cass couldn't do anything but let the blood-slicked blade go as it pulled from her abdomen with a sick, wet noise that reverberated quite clearly over the entire hall. No one spoke. No one moved. It seemed like minutes until she thudded to the ground, breaking the heavy, bone crushing silence that held the others breathless.

Thea stood over her fallen, groaning nemesis, heaving, mad with triumph, eyes blazing. The younger girl curled up in a ball, clutching her gushing stomach with hands that were quickly dyed red. "It wasn't fatal," she snapped contemptuously.

"Well, thank the gods for that," Ella snapped back. "After all, how could she murder your miserable existence if she were dead herself?"

David was holding her shoulders, trying to stop her from finishing what Cass had started. His muscles were straining. It was hard to restrain fantastic, raw hatred. And that was what he was trying to do.

Ella was not corrupted by indecision or bias or moral values. She _loathed_ Thea. She loathed Thea like she had never loathed anyone in her entire life and ever would again. It was like a fire.

**********************************************************_Ella Grace, daughter of Nyx_**

_I will destroy you, _I thought. _I will destroy if it's the last thing I ever do. And if it isn't, then I'll come and haunt you from the grave. _

If David hadn't been my boyfriend and I weren't worried for his future as a man, I would have let loose and kicked him in the nuts. Fortunately for him, he was my boyfriend, so I did my best to contain myself.

Considering I had about six months pent up aggression pouring out of every pore in my body like sweat from a fat guy on a date, it was an accomplishment that I wasn't screaming to high heaven (if there was one) and unleashing my ninja skills.

I had to settle for cursing in seven different languages and calling Thea something nasty in Pig Latin.

Someone else had this in mind too.

An arrow pierced through the noise that had erupted, burying itself into the shoulder of the villain.

Karson was standing now, her feet at Nathan torso as he lay on the ground. Her hands shook. She still looked a little green, and her face showed no resolve. But she had shot. And for that I would be thanking her internally forever.

Internally, after all, because she is my archenemy and any praise from someone as amazing as moi would instantly go to her head.

She looked at me, stunned into smiling silence, almost guiltily. "I was aiming for her shriveled, sad excuse for a heart."

"As long as you were aiming for her," said Nico, red faced. The arrow had whistled right past him, barely missing his nose.

I smiled. It was nice to know that, even half-dead and exhausted and wishing to be anywhere else, Karson could still offer a witty retort at a psychopaths expense.

David's grip relaxed.

I didn't hesitate. I sprang from his arms and ran toward Thea and the gasping Cass. Thea was plucking the arrow from her arm contemptuously. She pointed her sword at me when I got close enough.

"This is my game," she growled.

It was obvious to me then, really hitting me. We made jokes about her being crazy. But it was true. Slowly, what little sanity she had left had begun to deteriorate ever since Cass and us had entered her little game. There wasn't an inkling of it left in her eyes.

Not that that stopped me.

I'm a Grace after all.

I brought up my right hand, grabbing the blade that rested testily at my throat. I grabbed on for dear life. My hand bled. Then the celestial bronze exploded. There was a flash of black, a force roughly the equivalent of a miniature nuclear bomb, and the metal shredded beneath my palm.

My hand was blasted back, and I realized my anger had been thoroughly transmitted to the explosion. I felt much better when Thea dropped what remained, a chunk of smoking hot bronze sizzling on the end of a melted blob. Her hand was bloody red, but from her own or Cass's I couldn't be sure.

I ignored her shock as best I could. But it's hard. When someone who underestimated you looks at you for the first time, there is quite a bit of grim satisfaction.

There's that problem of mine. Instigating psychopaths.

I propped Cass up against the wall. Her head lolled to the right, tongue poking out beneath her teeth as she moaned.

"Cass, it's time to wake up."

"Cass, it's time to put those ninja skills to work."

"Cass, get up.

"Cass, it's time."

"Cass."

"Cass."

"_Cass!_"

That last one was accompanied by a hard irritated smack. Her eyes fluttered opened so quickly that I was reminded of a cartoon. She frowned. "What was that for?"

"That is what everyone says after I do that." I shook Cass's shoulder. Her head was lolling again. "Cass, you have to go and beat up the Crazy. It's important."

"I want to sleep."

"I would tell you not to go toward the light, but I don't really want to sound cliché." I shook her again.

I smiled impishly. Then I grabbed her chin, squishing her cheeks together so that she looked like a chipmunk, and made her look at me. "I have better things to do that make sure that you don't die. Get up already."

"Nathan?"

I straightened like someone shoved a rod up my butt. "I'm definitely not male."

"Oh." Cass eased back against the wall. "Is he okay?"

"He's fine, for now. But he won't be later. You have to beat up Thea first for him to get better."

She grabbed my arm with clammy hands that were surprisingly strong for someone who had just been stabbed in the tummy. "I don't want to kill her," she whispered, quiet like death.

"It's a little late for that," I scolded her, smiling. My anger was draining like water from the tub. Slow to anger, quick to forgive. Maybe not forgive, but quick to forget. That's me.

"I don't want to be a monster."

"I'll tell you what," I offered. "You do what you can."

She was in bad shape. She couldn't kill Thea in that state unless Thea were right in front of her, her arms spread open like she were about to be crucified. And I sincerely doubted that would happen.

"I can't do anything," she muttered in despair.

I slapped her again.

"Screw you," I told her. "Where is the idiot I followed here? At least she had a backbone. And I realize that I pulled a major cliché but..." I narrowed my eyes as best I could. All of this not-happiness what throwing of my _chi._ I need a big bag of sour gummy worms and a blizzard from DQ. And a big teddy bear. That would be nice.

"I don't have the time to sit here and make you feel good about yourself, okay? That's what therapists do. Get a therapist. In the meantime, stop being feeble and get up. You hear? _Get up!"_

My hands were dyed red too, by then. During my speech (I seem to be giving an awful lot of those nowadays) I had put what little energy I had left over into plugging up the whole in her body with a bandage and what little I had learned from Karson.

It was like trying to finish a surgery with glue instead of stitches.

So, I decided to do what I always did to heal people. I slapped her again.

"That's the third time!" she growled. But she started to get up anyway, so I didn't really regret it. Then she peered at me through the mess of her wild hair. "You know that this is what she wants, right?"

I grinned at her wolfishly. "You made your decision already when you said you wanted to leave. Thea can delude herself into thinking that you still have what it takes to be her replacement, but we all know that isn't going to happen anymore." I stood up, bending down to whisper into her ear. "You don't have to kill her, Cass. But make her wish you did."

Cass looked at me with blue-green eyes that weren't nearly as startled as they could have been, glowing in the pallor of her skin as she clung to consciousness. "You're a vicious creature."

"I'm well aware." I sniffed and patted her toward her adversary. "Don't make regret it."

She stood up, slightly bent as she clutched at her stomach. She would have to get over that if she didn't want to get skewered again. Thea flipped her blond hair over her shoulder. She looked like a demented Barbie. Perfect and crazy.

"Oh, and Cass?"

Cass looked at me, slightly less pale. "Yeah?"

"Don't die. It would upset me."

"I think that might be the nicest thing you ever said to me."

"Eh."

I winked at her. "It would upset Nathan too."

"If I didn't get him killed."

I scoffed. "We're a little harder to pick off then that." Once, I fell off of a bridge (I _still_ say stupid Becky Myers pushed me) and I broke four bones. Full recovery in minimal time! Doctors said it was a miracle I healed so quickly, and that I could have broken my neck. Take that, Becky Myers! But now didn't really seem like the time to share that little story. We had bigger fish to fry.

"I hope so," said Cass, and I swear she gulped like they did in the cartoons.

Thea was a Barbie and Cass was a cartoon. This was the best match up ever.

They both started fighting again, with no war cries or stupid jargon. They swung and dodged and danced around in a complicated array of moves that I would never be able to master, albeit a little slower. The arrow Karson had shot wasn't exactly a superficial wound. It looked like it had gone straight through the thin armor Thea wore like a second skin under her regular clothes.

Karson didn't have that kind of strength. I could only hope that maybe her dad was helping just a little bit. Hey, then maybe Mr. Poseidon would get in on the action. Nothing really got your attention like your daughter being made into a human shish kabob.

Thea lunged, Cass jumped over, squirting water into her one-time-idol's face like Squirtle from Pokemon. Thea was soaking by now, the water turning red around her shoulder and making the pastels of her shirt pink as it dripped down to the floor.

I heard a sinister _snip_, and tip of Thea's sword cut a giant, embarrassing whole in Cass's pants. But Cass was so far drowned in adrenaline already that she barely registered it. Thea was getting tired, but Cass's brush with death had revitalized her in a way that nothing else could. But we all knew her new-found energy wouldn't last forever. Cass as still bleeding, and Thea was still holding her own.

Then Cass did something crazy. She ran, used Thea's shoulders as a vault board, and pulled them both over the edge of the balcony they elevated themselves too. I stood there, stunned and completely impressed.

Cass let go of her foe in mid-air, and right when it looked like she would smack against the ground and smash into a little, watery pancake, she barrel rolled on her side and managed to come away with minimum damage.

Unfortunately, when you have a whole in your gut, minimal can be fatal.

She stood as tall as she could, pale as snow, except for the blossoming red flower that grew from her stomach. Even from up high, I could tell that her breathing was labored.

I could also tell that Thea was much worse.

She had been so utterly confused that she didn't have time to brace herself for the impact as the hard earth came up to meet her. I could tell that every time she breathed, a sharp pang came from the ribs she had most likely broken. Her arm was bent at an impossible angle. She wasn't even a color of pale. She was green like the Grinch.

"I'll miss you," Cass told her. "Maybe."

Thea laughed as much as she was able to without passing out from the pain, which wasn't much. "I will be you. Don't worry."

Cass kneeled down by Thea's side, to whisper in her ear with a dramatic air that our little party didn't need. It was entertaining, nonetheless. "I will worry every day of my life. But I will only worry. You have not tainted me so much that I will become that which I despise the most. I'd tell you to rot in Hell, but it won't be me who sends you there." She grabbed Thea by the collar of her shirt and set her on her feet.

Thea howled, attempting one last fatal blow on the girl she had hated. But something stopped her. A sound like a hurricane echoed through the room, and wind pushed on everyone from all directions. Her sword clattered pathetically to the floor.

She looked at it in astonishment. She swallowed the pitiful noise her throat was making with visible effort. Then she let it out a million times louder and she dashed out the door, leaving a trail of bloody footsteps in her wake.

I smiled, leaning my elbows on the railing of the balcony. I, at least, had not made the wrong decision. "This was good for you, Cass," I muttered. I looked at Karson and Nico, both looking like cats that had been dragged through a dog park, and at David, standing taller then he had before, and Alan and Avalee, holding each other tightly. "Maybe it was good for all of us. In a weird, twisted kind of way."

Lee ran to Cass. "Sister! Sister!" she cried desperately, her tiny arms outstretched like she wanted the hug she had been waiting on for ten years. She didn't care about the blood. She wrapped her arms around Cass's waist, burrowing her head into her older sisters chest.

Cass feebly patted her head before collapsing.

Pez rushed over as quickly as she could without seeing where she was going and helped Lee lower the older girl on the ground, her head resting near Nathan's hand.

His eyes, rich and dark and familiar, flickered open, and a smile replaced the blankness of unconsciousness. "Hey, look," he said, looking down at his stomach. "We match."

The ghost of a laugh was stuck onto Cass's face as she lay her head down on Pez's lap and slipped down into a place where none of them could reach.

**_Two days later, Chicago, Illinois_**

**********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************__****(Third Person)**

Alfred did not like the blond girl who had started showing up at mall. The one who always wore the same red shoes, no matter what she was wearing. His co-workers, the fashionable kind of girls that ruined other peoples self-esteem for laughs, cringed whenever she walked by.

She was unstable, he decided one day, watching her eyes as they flickered from the left to right, watching for some unseen predator. She limped when she walked, and when she laughed she clutched her stomach like the emotion gave her a stomachache.

He did his best to serve her at his fast food place. She would always order the same thing: 4-piece chicken strip combo and a largest diet Coke they had to offer. And she always wolfed it down in exactly four minutes.

Tonight, he had the night shift.

He didn't like it at all. No one was there this late at night anyway. He usually contented himself with reading a book at the counter, carefully avoiding any grease left over from the food they had served that day before whipping it down at eleven, when the entire mall closed down.

He was just wringing out his rag when he heard the click of high-heeled shoes on the tiled floor.He had absolutely no idea who would wear high-heels to a mall. Especially not after closing time on a Tuesday night. He grabbed his thick book, which was easily the biggest thing he could grab without making any noise, unless he wanted to grab the mop. But it dripped disgustingly something that wasn't water. Alfred didn't like mystery juice. Especially not coming from a mop that was older than he was.

Then he saw the disturbingly familiar head of blond, high-lighted hair, and he breathed a sigh of relief. It was the weird one. She was just wandering around until someone told her to get lost.

He almost stood up from his spot behind the counter. Almost.

He would have, if he hadn't noticed the other figure that had made it's way out from the shadows. Two figures.

It was amazing he hadn't seen them. They both glowed and shimmered in the harsh, minimal light of the food courts neon signs, like snow under a headlight. The kind that blinded even the most cautious drivers and sent them crashing into a snowdrift.

One was a girl, wearing a knee-length black dress that was the same color as her dark hair and eyes, only there were silver sparks around it. If he hadn't known any better, he would have sworn they moved as he watched from the safety of his stand, clutching his book tightly in sweating hand.

The other was a boy, a year or two older at least. His hair was choppy, messy, almost covering his eyes, which were too much like the girls for them not to be related. He wore dress pants, a white shirt, a black vest, and a dark blue tie.

Both of them were barefoot.

And both were gorgeous. Maybe it was the lighting. They shone with a bright kind of shimmer that made everything around them look dark and mysterious and magical, even the red cushioned plastic seats and the trash cans that had only recently been emptied of a days worth of half eaten burgers and melted milkshakes.

Now that he thought of it, the blond woman he served everyday had a similar kind of glow, dimmer than the others. If these two were dark, beautiful angels, then the familiar crazy girl was a fallen one.

"You look nice," she said. The accent that had hidden her voice fell apart, revealing a crisp voice that Alfred would never had recognized.

"We just came from a funeral," said the girl, smiling in a way that made Alfred nervous. "Remember all those people you killed?" She twirled a strand of her raven black hair. "We found three dead in your cells alone. Not to mention the ten others almost there, suffering from starvation and a general lack of hygiene. And don't even get me started on the people who died in fight in the arena. Really. You could have at least tried to make it a little cleaner."

"We were a little sad that you couldn't make it, but don't worry. Cass understood. Or she would have. If she could wake up from that coma you've had her in for the past two days." The boy scratched his head, completely at ease.

Alfred wished he were as care-free as the one in front of him. Right now, he was as tense as he could possibly be.

"You've come to ridicule me?" the blonde girl sneered. "Cass set me free. I'm free. Forever."

She said it with relish.

The girl scoffed. "From Cass, sure. But us Grace's, we're a different matter altogether."

"But I'm free," she said again, her voice small. "I'm free. You released me. I got away. I won. I killed you all. I won."

The boy raised an eyebrow and said, in a voice that was way to cheerful to be genuine, "You sicken me."

Alfred hugged his book to his chest. Whatever was happening, it was not something that made any sense to him. Maybe they were angels, he thought, looking over shoulder at the two dark figures standing shoulder-to-shoulder, tall and the color of untainted snow. Maybe they were angels of Death. They had come to deliver retribution to whoever the blond woman secretly was.

She flicked her hair over her shoulder, looking almost sane. "I won. You couldn't defeat me. I killed you all."

The girl wrinkled her nose, like she was trying not to laugh. The boy reached down and untucked his shirt, drawing it up towards his chest. A grisly mark was on his abs, just above his naval, the shiny pink scar tissue new and raw. "Just about," he said, laughing. "That was Toby, though. And he's dead anyway, so he doesn't matter."

The girl twirled, light on her feet, like she was having the best day of her life. Then she turned to the blond woman, a smirk of victory etched onto the contours of her face. "Cass didn't die. She didn't kill you either. She let you go. She wanted you to live out the rest of your miserable life alone and broken and insane. The one person you thought you knew let you down, Thea."

Her voice rang through the foot court. Thea narrowed her eyes. "I killed you. You always annoyed me the most, Ella."

Ella's eyes light up. "Really? And I thought you didn't notice me." She fluttered her eyelashes, the picture of a flattered teenage girl. Something told Alfred she much more than a teenage girl.

"All of that smiling and inside, you were just as sick and twisted as the rest of us."

She was pouting now. "And I thought I hid it so well."

"And Nathan," Thea continued, pointing at the boy who stood smiling beside his sister. "You could have been so much. You could have stayed with me and been happy. I had my eye on you, you know."

Nathan's expression didn't change. He remained faintly smiling, calm. "I know. It creeped me out. You're a little old for me. What are you, 20-something?"

Thea stiffened.

"Cougars aren't really my type."

Alfred would have laughed if he didn't have the feeling that something very bad would happen to him if these people found out he was here.

But Thea didn't stop. "And that di Angelo kid. I hear they call his the Ghost King." She sounded almost wistful. "Oh, but that Karson would have had to be dealt with. Not to mention Lora and Yuki and Sophie. And those twins were definitely a threat. Who were there parents?"

"Krios," said the boy. He did not hesitate.

Neither did the girl. "We made a deal. We would keep them out of trouble until they were old enough to decide which side they were on, and they wouldn't be disposed of."

"Peachy," said Thea. "I'm glad you finally told me."

"You're about to die anyway," said Ella, shrugging casually like she told people they were on their way to heaven everyday. Then again, thought Alfred, maybe she did.

Thea cackled. "Me? Die? Neither of you could ever defeat me!"

Ella smirked and looked at her brother. But he didn't look offended. "What about Cass?"

The silence that followed was almost louder than the mall on a Saturday, Alfred decided. And about twice as heavy and terrifying. There was nothing terrifying about a normal day. Unless a huge fat man in a muscle shirt and shorts came up and ordered about fifty hamburgers. This was much, much worse than that.

The realization made Alfred sweat.

"Cass," Thea said slowly, "couldn't defeat me either."

"Oh, but she did." The girl smiled, showing white teeth. "She took you and threw you over the balcony, where you feel and broke into pieces. And then she did the one thing you never expected her to do."

"No."

"She let you go."

"_No!_" Thea screamed in anguish. "I killed her I killed you all!"

"Look at me, Thea," said Nathan, motioning to himself. "Do I look dead to you? Do either of us?"

"How am I supposed to know?" she snapped. "I've never seen a dead person before."

Suddenly the boy was behind her, plunging a black sword that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere into Thea's stomach. She whimpered. He rested his chin by her shoulder, whispering into her ear. But Alfred could hear clearly. "You're about to see quite a few. Say hi to all of the souls you've destroyed for me." He braced his foot against her back and pulled the sword from her body. She fell limply to the floor with a thud.

Ella snapped her fingers, the noise too sharp to be natural. Thea's dead body was covered in a blanket of darkness, the same sort of thing as the boys sword, misty, black, shifting. Then the inky blackness faded away, taking the body with it. There was no blood. No sign that the crazy woman had ever been there, eventually meeting her end at the hands of two dark angels.

**************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************Wow. **

**************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************I better get some reviews, guys. That was fifteen pages. Plus, it was pretty awesome. Not that I'm biased or anything.**


	32. I'm a tease

**So...Sequel? :)  
**


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